


Bye Bye's Are Not For Legends (I'm Forever Young)

by kikikryslee



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Altered Mental States, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Anal Sex, Angst, Barebacking, Battle, Bottom Harry, Clones, F/M, First Dates, Fluff, Four Horsemen, Good versus Evil, Historical References, Immortality, M/M, Making Out, Mind Control, Minor Character Death, Mutual Pining, Riding, Rimming, Slow Build, Smut, Telekinesis, Time Skips, Top Louis, Violence, all of the boys have super powers, only when the boys are fighting off the bad guys, so there's like five scenes of it, the Harry/OMC is very brief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2016-05-02
Packaged: 2018-06-05 19:45:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 51,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6719434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kikikryslee/pseuds/kikikryslee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Superhero AU where Louis, Liam and Niall are immortal and have superpowers - Liam can clone himself, Niall can inflict pain at the drop of a hat and Louis can kill with the blink of an eye - and want fellow immortal Harry, who puts a twist on the term 'mind control,' to join their group in order to save the world.<br/>---<br/>"You know how you told my dad like a decade or two ago that you three felt like you were missing something?” Sophia asked.<br/>“Yeah, I remember,” Louis answered.<br/>“Well, I have somebody for you, if you’re interested. His name’s Harry Styles, and he does this thing where he stares really deeply into people’s eyes, and suddenly, they’re walking away from him, like some sort of-“<br/>“Mind control,” Louis finished.<br/>“Exactly. Could be worth checking out.”<br/>Louis looked at Liam and Niall, both of whom looked eager to meet the man.<br/>“OK,” Louis said. “Where can we find him?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Moscow

**Author's Note:**

> Whoo!!! After four months of working on this fic, it's finally complete. I'm so excited to be posting it, and I can't wait to see what people think. It's my first time writing any kind of superhero/supernatural fic and it was so much fun!
> 
> I want to thank my beta [Michelle](http://temporaryfixlouis.tumblr.com), who was the most incredible person to take this on with me. You were so awesome throughout all of this and I can't thank you enough for how much work you put into this with me! 
> 
> Of course, we are both only human, so if you spot any mistakes, feel free to tell me so I can fix them! 
> 
>  
> 
> **Thank you to the admins behind Ficathon for putting this all together. To read more about what this is all for, you can check[here](http://ficathon2016.tumblr.com/about). And to donate to any of the boys' charities, go [here](http://ficathon2016.tumblr.com/donate)!**
> 
>  
> 
> I based the boys' powers off the information on [this website](http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Four_Horsemen_Physiology). Think of OT4 as the Four Horsemen in this fic. For reference, Harry is based on the White Horseman, Liam is Red, Niall is Black and Louis is Pale. Information about Harry's power is [here](http://www.deadlysins.com/).
> 
> Title is from Jay Z's "Young Forever."
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> **DO NOT post this story or any of my other stories on any other websites. I'm not comfortable with that, and I hope that you can please respect that. If you see any of my stories on another website, please let me know. I am also NOT currently authorizing translations of any of my stories at this time. I hope you can respect that, as well. Thank you!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used Google Translate for the Russian spoken in this chapter, so if it's incorrect, feel free to (politely) correct me!
> 
> As it says in the tags, there is minor character death in this story. There are two scenes of that in this chapter. Both are marked off by double black lines. If you wish to skip that, just read up to the double lines and start reading after the next set.

_2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer._

_4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword._

_5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand._

_7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see._

_8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth._

[_Book of Revelation_ ](http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Revelation-Chapter-6/) _, 6:2, 6:4-5, 6:7-8_

**Moscow**

**January 14, 1994**

 

Louis took a look around, trying his best to blend in with the other members of the security detail.

He walked by an open window, feeling a chill overtake his entire body.

_Whose bright idea had it been to go to Russia in fucking January?_

It certainly wasn’t his, but he could probably blame United States President Bill Clinton, or Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

Today was the day the two men were going to meet at the Kremlin, where Louis currently was, to sign a [peace treaty](http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1994/In-Disarmament-Breakthroughs-Clinton-Yeltsin-Sign-Nuclear-Accords/id-c47d24f57ae53350868e17ea094a17e0) that would ensure that the United States and Russia no longer aimed their nuclear missiles at any country, including each other’s.

It was probably the first sense of relief citizens of both countries would get since the Cold War ended three years ago.

Of course, there were various groups of radicals from both nations that didn’t agree with the decision, and Eleanor Calder, the boys’ newest Russian correspondent, had alerted Louis, Liam and Niall of the news that a specific group would be trying to assassinate one or both presidents, which could potentially restart the war.

Needless to say, the three of them didn’t want that to happen, so they immediately left their warm, Miami apartment and jetted off to Moscow.

They quickly learned which group they would be keeping an eye on, and it all led up to this day.

President Yeltsin was already in the building, and being supervised by his own security team, which included two Liam clones.

President Clinton would be arriving at any moment, meaning Louis had to be on his highest alert.

Niall was driving the car that was bringing Clinton, and Liam had one of his copies driving a car behind it. The real Liam was running laps around the building, keeping an eye out for anything that looked suspicious.

Louis would’ve felt bad for Liam having to be outside, but he kept thinking about that whole ‘indestructible’ thing Liam had going on. The fucker probably wasn’t even wearing a coat.

Louis heard a buzzing among the crowd outside, and knew that Clinton had arrived. He stiffened a moment later when he heard a window breaking in another wing of the building.

He was the only one who seemed to notice. Damn mortals and their inferior hearing.

He subtly excused himself from the room, even though he knew that nobody would notice his disappearance. He wasn’t even on any official list of security, so no one would realize that he’d gone missing to take care of the trouble that was about to unfold.

He walked out to the lobby, only stopping momentarily to allow the President and his secret servicemen to pass by him. Out of respect, he ducked his head, but still peeked up to make eye contact with one of Liam’s copies.

They winked at each other in acknowledgement, and the group kept moving.

Louis hoped that Liam – the real one – would be able to work his magic on the crowd. For the last two years, Liam had been practicing a new kind of memory adjustment: overlooking. He’d been trying to get inside of people’s minds to convince them that something they heard or saw was just a figment of their imaginations.

For example, there was a high chance of gunshots today, and Liam wanted to get everyone in the building to hear a gunshot and convince themselves that it wasn’t real. That way, if anybody heard the sound of a gun going off, they wouldn’t pay any mind to it, allowing the signing of the treaty to happen as planned, and preventing an evacuation of the presidents for their own safety.

Liam was, by far, the most advanced in his abilities due to his excessive studying and practicing. Louis and Niall couldn’t be bothered to learn more than what they already knew.

Louis always said ‘maybe one day,’ but they all knew that wasn’t true.

Louis continued on his way, getting to the staircase that led to the upper level of the Kremlin.

He heard the noise come from up there, and if he wasn’t meant to stop the intruders, he would admire their ability to get past Liam and into the building.

He looked behind him to make sure he wasn’t being watched, and made his way to the top.

He found himself in the middle of a beautifully decorated room. On either side of him was an archway that led to a different hallway. Louis wasn’t as familiar with the floor plan of this building as he wished he was, but if he listened closely enough, he knew he could find the men he was looking for.

He could hear some mutterings on the right, so he went in that direction. He walked down the hallway, listening out for anybody who wasn’t Niall or Liam.

Speaking of which, according to the plan, the two of them should be showing up any second now.

Louis froze when some aggressive sounding Russian caught his attention.

It was on the left, behind a door.

Louis pressed his ear up to it, and, not immediately hearing anything, slowly opened it.

After peeking his head through, Louis rolled his eyes, because of course, it led to yet another hallway.

Getting bored now of all of this chasing, Louis jogged down to the door at the end of the hallway, and, finding himself in a large sunroom, was faced with his target.

_Jackpot._

In the few seconds he had before being seen, Louis identified the leader, Dmitri. He stood almost six feet tall, with heavy stubble covering his cheeks and chin. He wore khaki cargo pants tucked into black military boots, and had a thick, black coat covering his upper body. He held a sniper rifle close to his chest as he gave instructions to his followers, who were all dressed similarly, but with smaller weapons.

Louis supposed there were about twenty-five men in this room, and all of them held some type of weapon.

He noted the multiple exits of the room. There was the one he had just come through, of course, but to his right, at the opposite side of the room, was a double door. To his left was a single glass door, which had been broken into. Louis assumed that they’d snuck up the back and halted here to get themselves in order. And in front of him were large, floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the city of Moscow.

Louis remembered them, just in case they got stuck in a sticky situation. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s had to jump out of a window, and if it happened, it wouldn’t be the last.

He could sense the second that the radicals noticed him. The air was filled with a tense silence, nearly impossible to miss.

They all raised their guns to Louis when they saw him.

Louis raised his hands in surrender, but still couldn’t resist taunting them a little bit.

“ _Ty poteryalsya? Politsiya stantsii po ulitse,”_ he said in fluent Russian, asking them if they were lost and telling them that the police station was down the road.

“ _Poluchit' na koleni_ ,” Dmitri ordered.

Louis raised an eyebrow, but got down on his knees, as told. He remained still as two of the men searched him. They didn’t find a gun, as Louis despised carrying one, but removed his earpiece.

Louis almost laughed then; they didn’t realize the equipment wasn’t actually plugged into anything. It had only been for show for the other security men downstairs.

Once they were done, Dmitri walked over to him, getting right in his face.

“ _Kak vas zovut?_ ” Dmitri asked.

Louis restrained himself from scoffing, as if he was really going to tell Dmitri his name.

 _Your worst nightmare,_ Louis thought to himself. Out loud, he said, “ _Vash khudshiy koshmar_.”

Dmitri smirked and shook his head. “ _Ya ne dumayu, chto tak_.”

The smile on Louis’ face grew a little more, as he could now hear Niall and Liam fast approaching.

Wanting to get this show on the road, Louis gave Dmitri the middle finger on both hands and said, “ _Poshel na khuy_.”

“ _Uvidimsya v adu,”_ the leader promised in a gravelly tone.

Louis winked. Dmitri saying that he would see Louis in hell wasn’t nearly as menacing as he probably hoped it would be, especially since Louis had been roaming this earth for more than a hundred and eighty years and had no plans of stopping any time soon.

Dmitri raised his gun and pointed it right at Louis’ head, and, just for shits and giggles, Louis did nothing to stop him.

“Well, well, well! What do we have here?”

Niall walked in through the glass door on Louis’ left, an ever-present smile on his face.

“We having a party and I wasn’t invited?” he asked.

Louis snorted at his friend’s sense of humor.

The radical closest to the door quickly turned to point his gun at Niall; however, he wasn’t counting on falling to his knees in pain as Niall stared him down.

Dmitri and his other minions stared in horror as their comrade clutched at his skull in agony, yelling that he felt like his brain was trying to explode.

Suddenly, the double doors on Louis’ right burst open, and in walked Liam – the real one.

Liam took in the scene in front of him and whistled. “Well, there are more than a few of you here. Guess it’s only fair if there are a few of me.”

With a blink of his eyes, there were four extra Liams behind the original.

Louis chuckled as he heard the radicals start choking on their own spit.

“ _Bessmertnyye_ ,” Dmitri whispered.

Louis nodded smugly, confirming what Dmitri thought they were: immortals.

Now came the part of the plan where Louis tried to reason with Dmitri, telling him that the three of them could easily defeat the entire group in front of them. Well, if you counted the extra Liams, there were seven of them, but that wasn’t the point.

“ _Dmitri,”_ Louis started, slowly rising to his feet. He urged the other man to surrender, saying, “ _bros' eto. Eto konets._ ”

Dmitri just shook his head, holding tightly to his gun, while the other men kept their eyes alert, waiting for the signal. “ _Net._ ”

Louis nodded, because as far as Louis was concerned, this battle was over. “ _Da. Eto konets._ ”

Dmitri grunted and aimed the gun back at Louis’ chest. “ _Net! Nikogda!”_

And Louis could only sigh, because _of course,_ they had to do this the hard way.

He dodged the first round of bullets, and Niall and Liam – and all of his copies – went into action.

Two Liams surged forward, throwing punches at anyone who wasn’t on their team, while the real Liam held back, sliding weapons out of radicals’ hands with a wave of his fingers.

Niall snatched the gun from the one he’d been inflicting pain on and tossed it away before bringing two more men to their knees in agony.

Louis wasn’t much of a fighter, but he could defend himself. He shoved back against Dmitri, catching him slightly off-guard. He knocked the gun out of Dmitri’s hands and was preparing to kick him in the chest, only to be slammed into by one of Dmitri’s men.

It didn’t hurt that badly, but Louis had been so focused on Dmitri that he’d forgotten about the others.

Rookie mistake.

Louis kicked the man in the knee and grabbed the gun from him, knocking him out with the barrel of it.

A radical jumped up from his hiding spot behind a chair and started firing. Liam, with the point of a finger, sent the man flying backward. But that didn’t stop the ammunition from flying.

Seeing the bullets coming his way, Niall ducked behind Liam, letting his friend get the full force of the bullets from the gun.

“Are you using me for a shield?” Liam yelled down.

“It’s either you or me, man!” Niall protested.

“We’re immortal! Stop doing that!”

Niall shrugged before jumping up and giving the shooter a headache he wouldn’t soon recover from.

Across the room, a Liam copy punched the guy in front of him with a grunt and snapped his wrist. The gun in his hand dropped to the ground, and Liam kicked it behind him, only for another copy of himself to pick it up and knock out another radical with it.

In the midst of everything, Louis lost sight of Dmitri, until it was almost too late.

As he punched someone square in the face as they lay on the ground, he saw Dmitri picking up a gun and running from the room.

_Shit._

Louis started running, ducking as he went to avoid a stray bullet.

“Liam!” he shouted as he followed Dmitri.

Liam looked back and, with a blink of his eyes, a copy of himself took his place in the fight he was currently in while the real Liam started running after Louis.

Louis kept Dmitri in his sight, moving down the hallway as fast as he could. He could hear Liam keeping up with him, his breath not nearly as ragged as Louis’ was.

Dmitri wasn’t so far ahead of them that they needed to use their abilities on him yet, so for the time being, they just kept up with him. Liam slammed doors shut when Dmitri tried to open them, which slowed him down a lot. He sent end tables flying toward Dmitri’s head, which the man expertly avoided.

Louis watched as Dmitri jumped down the small flight of stairs at the end of the hall and kept moving.

“Fuck,” he grumbled, pushing himself to go faster. He jumped down the steps and he landed easily on his feet. He hurried around the corner and saw Dmitri standing on a balcony and aiming his gun down below.

“No!” Louis hissed. He shot his arm out, making a grip with his hand.

* * *

* * *

Immediately, Dmitri seized up, feeling instant effects of paralysis down his spine. Louis slightly turned his hand, and Dmitri let out unnatural sounds, a gurgling in his throat becoming louder with each second.

“Liam,” Louis whispered.

With a crook of his finger, Liam raised Dmitri’s body in the air and brought it back toward them. As soon as he was in front of them, Louis reached out and forced the gun from Dmitri’s hand.

He handed it off to Liam before balling his fist up into a fist, and a loud _crack_ filled their ears. Dmitri collapsed to the ground, his spine snapped in half, and all signs of life were gone from behind his cold, brown eyes.

Louis and Liam looked down at him, catching their breath from the chase. A spattering of applause below broke the silence only seconds later.

* * *

* * *

They looked over the edge of the balcony to see Clinton and Yeltsin shaking hands.

The treaty was signed, and their job was done.

Well, most of the job.

“You take this,” Liam said, giving the gun back to Louis. “I have this.”

He knelt down and swung Dmitri’s body over his shoulder.

“I’ll get to work on Clean-Up.”

“Don’t be mean to Niall,” Louis replied.

“He used me as a shield. Again. He knows I hate that!”

“It was you or him.”

“We’re immortal!” Liam whined. “God, it’s been seventy years of this damn argument. Aren’t you tired of it yet?”

Louis grinned. “Not really.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Liam rolled his eyes and jogged away from Louis, back toward Niall and the rest of his copies.

Louis looked back over the balcony, waiting until both presidents were safely evacuated from the vicinity.

“You’re welcome,” he whispered into the silence.

\---

A few hours later, Louis settled further into his seat on the airplane.

They were two hours into their flight home to Miami, and Louis was hoping to get some sleep like Liam, who was snoring next to him.

Across the aisle, Niall was loudly singing [Oiy moroz, moroz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgRQvsOqs7c), an old Russian drinking song, while taking shots of vodka.

Louis rolled his eyes before shutting them, hoping that sleep would somehow overtake him despite Niall’s volume.

He should be used to that by now. Like Liam had said earlier, the three of them had been traveling together for more than seventy years – since 1918 – when Louis and Liam found Niall in a park in Ireland, finally getting revenge on his high school bully.

And the rest was, as they say, history. The three of them formed a new group of immortals, one that seemed to be doing something beneficial with their abilities.

It was a rare occurrence – immortality – but it was at least known about; it was even taught about in schools.

There was quite literally a one in a million chance of getting the gene, one which allowed you to age normally until you turned twenty-one, and then you just… stopped, leaving you with heightened senses and magnified character traits that sometimes led to special abilities.

It was on his twenty-first birthday that Louis woke up feeling all fuzzy and powerful.

Upon realizing that he could kill living things with a flash of his mind – the birds outside his window and the family’s best horse serving as perfect evidence – Louis ran away from home, knowing he would never forgive himself if he accidentally made one of his sisters drop dead because her voice got too loud.

He blamed his constant sarcasm and deathlike stares toward anyone he disliked for his immortal ability, and kept his distance from people years after he learned how to control it.

He was by himself for the rest of that century, until 1902 when he finally met Liam, who, funnily enough, was trying to steal Louis’ wallet.

Up until that point, Louis was convinced that he would spend the rest of his ‘life’ alone. While immortals were a known concept, they were extremely rare to come across in real life.

In the past, some had stepped forward in attempts to help normalize immortals to the general population.

And that would have continued, had there not been so many rumors of invasive and painful science experiments to figure out what made immortals tick. The multiple science fiction movies released in the past few decades didn’t help, either.

Immortals usually kept to themselves now, either by choice or by lack of a better option, moving around from place to place so as not to raise suspicions from their local neighbors.

Louis, however, was lucky. He had Liam and Niall with him, and as much as he hated to admit it, he’d gotten quite fond of them over the decades. They were the closest thing to family he would ever have again.

A loud snort from Liam jolted Louis’ eyes open, and they drifted across the aisle.

Niall had quieted down a little, but was still taking shots, his legs draped over the empty seat next to him. The sight made Louis wonder what it would be like to have someone occupying that seat, in the form of a fourth member to their group.

The three of them had been together for seventy years. A little bit of change might do them some good, and they could always use more power on their side.

As Louis finally began drifting off to sleep, he started to really like the idea of having a fourth person with them.

He had no idea how he would find them, but when they landed, he had a few people he could call.

 

**New York City**

**July 19, 2006**

Harry took a seat at the bar, subtly glancing around his surroundings.

It was a normal night at Rebel, the club he’d been scoping out for the last few weeks. The owner, Adam Bennett, had just arrived and gone to the back room. Harry was convinced there was a safe back there, and he planned on getting into it tonight.

But first, he needed Bennett, who, as the owner, would have the combination. Harry didn’t have the time or patience to attempt to break into the safe. He also didn’t want to get caught in the office with his metaphorical pants down.

The bartender asked Harry if he wanted a drink, and although Harry would’ve liked nothing more than to get a scotch on the rocks that he could nurse for a little while, he had to say no.

He focused on the door to the back room, waiting for Bennett to come out so he could make his move.

Bennett was a local businessman worth upwards of fifty million dollars. He came from old money, and now owned a line of nightclubs, including the one they were currently in. If Harry was right, then he likely had a nice chunk of change in that safe, a sum small enough that his personal savings would be unaffected.

Harry might even consider not emptying the safe entirely. But that depended on how long it took Bennett to get the fuck out of the room.

He sensed someone sliding into the chair next to him and mentally crossed his fingers that the person wouldn’t try to talk to him.

“You come here often?” he heard muttered in his ear.

_Really? That’s the best he can come up with?_

Harry put on a fake smile before turning to his admirer. He was faced with a man who was probably in his late thirties, with brown hair, beautiful gray eyes and a hairline that would soon start receding.

He seemed like the type who was looking for a younger guy, someone to spoil. If only he knew that Harry was a few decades older than him.

“I’m sort of waiting for someone, so…” Harry trailed off, hoping this guy would take the hint.

He didn’t.

“Well, can I buy you a drink while you’re waiting?”

“No, thank you.”

“Will you at least tell me your name, beautiful?”

Right then, Harry saw the door open, and Bennett emerged from the back room. This was his chance. But he needed to get rid of this guy. Now.

He looked the flirtatious stranger right in his eyes and said, “Aren’t you feeling a little hungry right about now?”

Slowly but surely, an orange glow circled the irises of the man’s eyes.

Harry smirked. “Why don’t you get yourself something to eat?”

The man nodded and turned to the bartender to order something.

Harry walked to the other side of the bar. As he moved, he heard the other man order chicken tenders, three hamburgers and a dozen rounds of fries.

He took a new spot, just a few feet away from Bennett, who was talking with another customer.

He leaned his forearms against the bar as he listened to Bennett ask the woman how she was enjoying her evening, and she gushed about how much fun she and her friends were having.

A moment later, Bennett ended his conversation and made his way over to Harry, who was pretending to watch some people on the dance floor.

“Now why is a handsome man like you standing here all by himself?”

_Jackpot._

Harry turned slowly to face Bennett, who was standing behind him, a wolfish grin on his face.

“Hey, Baby,” Harry purred. “How are you tonight?”

“I’m doing all right, but I’d be better if I had some company.”

“Oh? Anyone in particular?”

“Well, you’re looking awfully lonely over here. Can I buy you a drink?”

Harry looked him dead in the eyes and said, “You don’t have to. You’re more than enough.”

He watched as a dark blue glowing light surrounded the green irises of Bennett’s eyes. He smirked to himself, knowing that his power was working.

Harry heard Bennett’s breath hitch in his throat as he gave Harry a slow once-over.

“Damn, you’re so fucking hot,” Bennett said, his breathing getting heavier by the second.

“Yeah?” Harry asked innocently.

“Fuck, yeah.”

Bennett leaned in, attaching his lips to the side of Harry’s neck and sucking the skin into his mouth.

Harry resisted rolling his eyes at the immediate effect, and tried to school his face to look like he was enjoying it.

Harry put his hands on Bennett’s waist and pulled him closer, even going so far as to wrap one of his legs around the back of Bennett’s, rubbing their calves together.

He knew people would be watching, so he had to make sure it was convincing.

Bennett pulled off Harry’s neck and kissed him instead.

Harry wanted to wrinkle his nose, because not only was Bennett a terrible kisser, but he also tasted disgusting. The inside of his mouth had hints of cigarette smoke and too-strong mouthwash, as if Bennett had tried to hide the first scent from his breath.

After a few minutes of the embarrassing make out session, Harry pulled back long enough to suggest, “Want to go somewhere more private?”

Bennett immediately agreed. He took Harry’s hand and pulled him away from the bar, guiding them toward the back room, just as Harry had hoped he would.

Once they were there, Bennett locked the door behind them and went to finish what they had already started.

But Harry didn’t need that anymore. Instead, he focused his eyes on Bennett’s and said, “You know what really gets me hot?”

“What?” Bennett asked as he leaned in for another kiss.

“Rich guys. But you’re not that rich, are you?”

Harry stared Bennett down until the glow in his eyes went from blue to purple.

Bennett scoffed. “Excuse me?”

“Yeah.” Harry sighed as he looked away. “It’s such a bummer.”

“Hey, hey, hey. Just a minute. I’ll have you know I’m extremely wealthy.”

“Really? Doesn’t look like it.” Harry added a pout for good measure.

“Oh yeah? I’ll show you just how rich I am.”

Bennett went to the painting behind his desk, and grabbed hold of the bottom of the frame. He slid it upwards, revealing a safe hidden in the wall.

_Cliché, but jackpot number two._

Harry paid close attention as Bennett typed in the code for the safe, 43820*. It beeped, and Bennett pulled the door open.

Harry felt his jaw drop as he saw stacks upon stacks of hundred dollar bills.

Bennett took a wad of cash out and dropped it on the desk. “Does that look poor to you? I got plenty of these at my disposal, and a lot more where that comes from, sweetheart.”

Harry looked from the money to Bennett’s glowing eyes, and waited for them to change once more, from purple to light blue.

“Wow,” Harry praised. “I’m sorry for questioning you. You deserve a break after that, don’t you think?”

Bennett nodded slowly, and let out a small yawn. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

“Why don’t you take a little nap, and when you get up, we can finish what we started?”

Bennett nodded again before going over to the couch against the opposite wall. He lay down, and within minutes, he was asleep.

Harry didn’t have much time after that.

He quickly searched through the office, finding a small canvas bag shoved in one of the desk drawers.

He filled the bag to the brim with bundles of cash, each one worth $10,000. As soon as he couldn’t fit any more money inside, he zipped it shut.

Harry closed the door to the safe, and slid the painting back into position.

Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he ducked his head and exited the office. He walked away from the noise of the club, not wanting to be seen by anybody else if he could help it.

He found a fire exit and tried to push the door open. Unfortunately, it was stuck, so Harry took a step back and checked his surroundings. There was nobody else around, so he quickly lifted his leg and kicked the door open.

There may have been an alarm going off somewhere, but Harry wouldn’t hear it. He was already running off into the night.

 

**Los Angeles**

**July 21, 2006**

Louis, Liam and Niall weren’t in their Los Angeles apartment for more than a half hour before they got the call.

They had just gotten back from Las Vegas, where they had expertly prevented a bomb from being planted underneath one of the strip’s main casinos.

Niall was still pouting from not being able to try his ‘Luck of the Irish’ at the slot machines.

“Smithers,” Liam answered his phone cheerfully. “How you doing?”

“Fine, Liam. Am I on speaker?”

Liam pulled the phone away from his ear and pressed a button. “Now you are.”

“Good. Hi, Louis. Hi, Niall.”

“Hey, Sophia!” Louis called from where he sat on the living room couch. “What’cha got for us?”

“Well, you know how you told my dad like a decade or two ago that you three felt like you were missing something?”

All three of the men nodded, before remembering she was on speaker.

“Yeah, I remember,” Louis answered.

“Well, I have somebody for you, if you’re interested.”

Louis, Liam and Niall looked at each other, examining their reactions. After seeing that all three of them wanted to know more, Louis responded with, “Let’s hear it.”

Sophia, and her sister Zoe, was just one of the people around the world who worked for them. Her father, and his father before that, were based in New York, and also worked for the Police Department. They had provided the boys with time-sensitive, confidential information for years, decades even.

“His name’s Harry Styles,” Sophia replied. “He seems to have just appeared out of nowhere. He’s been going to this club, Rebel, for the last three or four weeks. Whenever he goes, he doesn’t talk to anybody, and if people talk to him, he gets rid of them quickly. Zoe and I have been watching him on security footage from the club, and he does this thing where he stares really deeply into people’s eyes, and suddenly, they’re walking away from him, like some sort of-“

“Mind control,” Louis finished.

“Exactly. Could be worth checking out.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s here in Manhattan,” Sophia answered. “He does have a bit of a time limit on him, though. If you want him, you better act fast.”

“Why’s that?” Niall asked.

“Well, it looks like he stole a shit ton of money from Adam Bennett, the man who owns the club where we keep seeing him. Two nights ago, he had a conversation with Bennett, and once again, he did that creepy eye staring thing. A few minutes later, they go into Bennett’s office, and Harry comes out alone. But now he’s holding a bag and running out the fire exit. Yesterday morning, it’s all over the news that Rebel was the victim of a huge heist.”

“Shit,” Liam admired. “Bennett’s probably not the type of guy to let that go, huh?”

“Not in any way,” Sophia said. “It’s kind of a miracle he got that far. Bennett’s kind of a big deal. He’s surrounded by security at all times, so the fact that Harry made off with as much money as he did…”

“How much money?” Louis wanted to know.

“Looks like it was almost half a million dollars.”

Louis, Liam and Niall let out a low whistle. “Shit.”

“Exactly. Bennett’s going after Harry, and when he finds him, mind control or not, Harry’s not making it out alive.”

“Has anybody else seen this footage?”

“No,” Sophia answered. “Lucky for you, my dad was put in charge of the case. After he saw the eye staring thing, he made a copy of the footage before wiping the club’s hard drive.”

Louis laughed. “And they say cops aren’t corrupt.”

“Haha. Listen, if the situation were different, we might be a little more willing to help Bennett get his money back. As it stands, he’s a scummy guy who could probably use more blows to his ego.”

“Well thank you,” Niall said.

“You’re welcome. So, if you want it, this information’s all yours. If you don’t want it, we magically recover the footage and arrest Styles for theft.”

“No, we’ll check him out,” Louis decided.

“You got an address?” Liam asked.

Sophia gave it to them and continued with, “You boys gonna pay us a visit when you’re in town?”

“Absolutely.”

Louis and Niall exchanged a knowing glance. _Of course_ Liam would be paying her a visit.

“Good luck boys,” Sophia wished. “Although I’m sure you won’t need it.”

“Thanks, Smithers,” Liam said. “See you soon.”

“See you, boys.”

They hung up the phone, and Louis looked at Liam and Niall. “Back to the airport we go.”

 

**New York City**

**July 26, 2006**

Harry felt like he was being watched.

It was a week after his heist from Bennett, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that no matter where he was – at the supermarket, the gym or just walking down the street – he was being followed.

He especially felt it now as he was on his regular run through his neighborhood. He crossed the street to get to his building, and once he reached the sidewalk, he turned around, expecting to see someone staring at him. But once again, there was nobody there.

He jogged up to the main entrance and took one last look around before entering the building.

Harry took the stairs two at a time, just wanting to get to his apartment. When he reached his front door, he quickly unlocked it and slammed it behind him.

He took a deep breath and locked it.

When he turned around, he almost had a heart attack. “Who the fuck are you and how did you get in here?” he yelled.

On his sofa sat a David Beckham lookalike. He had beautiful brown eyes and a fresh-looking buzz cut. The sleeves of his T-shirt showed rather large biceps that were probably the same size as Harry's head. 

He looked the very definition of relaxed, with his feet propped up on Harry’s coffee table and arms thrown over the back of the couch.

“Hi, Harry,” the man greeted, rising to his feet. “How are you?”

“I’ll say this one more time. Who the fuck are you?”

“Oh, sorry. I’m Liam. Nice to meet you.”

He extended a hand for Harry to shake, but dropped it a few seconds after it became clear that Harry would not be taking it.

“Wish I could say the same,” Harry deadpanned. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind…”

He tilted his head back toward the door, silently saying it was time for Liam to go.

“Oh, I’m not leaving.” Liam shook his head. “Not without you. I’ve heard you’re a talented guy.”

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah, some kind of mind control? I’ve seen the footage. You just stare into someone’s eyes and suddenly they’re doing whatever you want. I love it. Can’t wait to see how that works.”

“I don’t know what game you’re playing right now, but this is the last time I’ll say this: get out.”

“Or what?” Liam asked, suddenly serious.

Harry refused to be intimidated, so he looked Liam in his eyes and waited for a purple glow to form in Liam’s eyes. He planned on manipulating Liam’s pride and making him prove to Harry that he could jump out a four-story window and survive.

“Oooh, are you trying to control me?” Liam chuckled. “That’s cool.”

Harry took a step back. What was going on?

“If you’re done, we can leave now.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you. Who are you and why didn’t that work?”

Liam rolled his eyes. “All right; I’m done. It’s time to go. Sorry about this, kid.”

Before Harry could ask what that meant, Liam reeled an arm back and suddenly, Harry’s world went dark.

\---

Harry woke up shouting obscenities, feeling cold water from a showerhead hitting him in his throbbing face.

He jumped up and slipped on the wet floor of the bathtub, falling down immediately.

He groaned in pain as his back made contact with the tub.

“Don’t move too fast,” he heard an Irish-accented voice warning him.

Harry froze, and looked over to see a blonde man sitting on the closed toilet seat. He was leaned back, his legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankle. He wore an all black outfit: jeans, socks and T-shirt, and was munching from a bag of microwave popcorn, watching Harry make an absolute idiot of himself.

Harry slowly rose to his feet and turned the water off. He shook out his hair, which was now drenched and hanging in loose curls around and in front of his face.

“That wasn’t my idea, by the way,” the Irishman continued as if this was normal. “It was Louis’. He said you were taking too long to wake up.”

He wrinkled his nose before adding, “Plus, you stink.”

“Thanks,” Harry said.

“You’re welcome. You want a towel?”

“No, I don’t want a fucking towel,” Harry spat. “I want to know who the fuck you are and where I am.”

“Oh, sorry. I’m Niall.”

He stood up and extended a greasy hand for Harry to shake.

Harry looked at it in disgust before looking back up to Niall’s face.

“Um…” Niall said, looking down at his hand. He shyly rubbed his hand against the leg of his jeans, hoping to get some of the grease from the popcorn off it.

He held out his hand again, and Harry only batted it away. “What do you want?” he asked angrily.

“I thought you’d never ask!” Niall said cheerfully. “Dry off first, and then we’ll tell you.”

“We?”

“Yeah, we. You met Liam already; you just have to meet Louis now. We’re really nice; I promise.”

Harry watched Niall carefully, finding him to be completely serious about the shit he was spewing.

“Oh, here,” Niall said, suddenly remembering something important. He pointed to a built-in wall unit. On one of the shelves was a pile of unfamiliar clothes, right next to the sneakers Harry had been wearing on his run.

“There are towels in that linen closet,” Niall told Harry, pointing to the door next to the shower. “Dry off and get dressed. Those are Liam’s clothes. He looked like he was closest to your size. We’ll be outside when you’re ready.”

Niall smiled once more before exiting the room, leaving Harry alone.

“What the fuck?” Harry whispered after a moment. He looked down at himself, seeing his running shorts and T-shirt soaked through. His socks squished with every shift of his body weight, and he was suddenly very happy he didn’t bring his phone with him when he ran – it would’ve been absolutely ruined by the water.

He carefully stepped onto the tile floor, expecting someone to burst in at any time. He peeled his wet clothes off and dropped them all in the tub.

He went into the linen closet that Niall had pointed out, and sure enough, found a huge stack of freshly laundered towels.

He pulled a blue one from the top and dried himself off, running the towel through his hair more than a few times.

Harry brought down the clothes Niall had left for him and found a pair of black sweatpants, boxers, socks and a vintage-looking Rolling Stones T-shirt. He read the date on it and saw that it was from their 1969 American Tour.

He quickly dressed before he could overthink anything too much and tried to figure out a game plan.

Apparently, there were three men out there. Harry hadn’t practiced much on using his power against multiple people. He’d never needed a reason to, but right now, he hoped he could do it. Maybe he could manipulate their pride and get them to go into some kind of contest against each other, like who was stronger or could do the most push-ups. That would provide Harry with a chance to escape the apartment.

Although, if it hadn’t worked on Liam earlier, what were the chances it would work on the other two?

He was so screwed.

He pressed his ear against the bathroom door, hearing quiet conversation. Somewhere, there was a television on, and the scraping of a chair against hardwood floors.

Harry took a deep breath and slowly opened the door. He peered out, and didn’t see anyone. He stepped out, finding himself in the middle of a long hallway. At one end, it looked like there were doors that led to bedrooms. At the other end, was an archway that showed Harry a large living room.

He made his way in that direction, taking the occasional glance behind him to make sure that nobody was going to jump him from the back.

He got to the end and walked through the archway, still not seeing anybody. He did, however, see a front door.

Not believing his luck, he hurried toward it, but before he could grab the handle, he heard, “Leaving so soon?”

He glanced over his shoulder, only to see a third man; Louis, he guessed.

This man was far more beautiful than the others, with bright blue eyes, a button nose and light brown shaggy hair that had a single strand that curled down the side of his face.

He stood with a wide stance, and his arms crossed in front of his chest. He was staring Harry down, daring him to make a move.

Harry turned to face him and said, “I guess you’re Louis?”

“Maybe. Where do you think you’re going?”

“Home, fucker. I don’t know you and there’s no reason for me to stay.”

“How about this reason? I know what you did to Bennett.”

Harry stilled. There was no way he knew about the money.

“What was it? Ten thousand dollars? No, a hundred thou- No! It was four hundred and seventy thousand dollars. That’s impressive.”

“Shut up.”

“What’d you do with the money?” Louis wanted to know. “I mean, we saw your apartment. You definitely didn’t do any remodeling with it.”

“Fuck you.”

“No, thanks. So how’d you do it?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Of course I would,” Louis grinned. “And so do Liam and Niall.”

At the mention of their names, the other two men appeared from another room, flanking Louis on either side.

“I mean, we already know it’s some kind of mind control. But I get the sense that it’s more complex than that.”

“Why would I tell you?” Harry asked.

“Because we want you to join us,” Louis answered.

“Excuse me?”

Niall nodded happily. “See, we’ve been working together for nearly ninety years now. It’d be nice to have someone else join the ranks. And your power is very interesting.”

“And what exactly is it that you do?”

“Save the world,” Liam answered simply. “Save people from destroying themselves and those around them. Prevent the fall of mankind, that sort of thing.”

“How?”

“Well, like you, young Harry,” Louis replied, “we’re immortal. See, we did some research on you. You stopped aging in 1951, and have been traveling the world ever since. You mainly lived in London up until last year, when you moved here, to this fine city of New York. And last week, you robbed Adam Bennett of almost half a million dollars, which, like I said before, is very impressive.”

“So how do you know that I’m a good guy?” Harry wondered. “I could be planning on robbing some other millionaire in the near future.”

“Because that’s not who you are. In Philadelphia, there was a rather large donation made to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. Coincidentally, that was a week after yet another club owner, this one from San Diego, reported being robbed of more than two hundred thousand dollars. I must say, your hauls are getting much larger with each heist.”

“It’s not a heist,” Harry denied. “Those businessmen are corrupt. They report donations to charities and projects that are just cover-ups for their own personal accounts.”

“So you think you’re like Robin Hood or something?” Niall asked. “Steal from the rich and give to the poor?”

“That’s admirable,” Liam complimented.

“Thanks,” Harry said.

“You’re welcome.”

Louis rolled his eyes, starting to get bored of the conversation. “Anyway… we’re like you, Harry. We want to help everyone, and we do. We have people all over the world who help us find ‘the bad guys,’ as you would probably call them, and make sure their plans are stopped. We have our own power and have been doing this for a while. But you could make us better.”

“And that’s all I get?” Harry asked skeptically, taking a few steps forward. “I get this little speech about how you three are… _special_ … because you save the world time and time again and I’m just supposed to take your word for it?”

Louis, Niall and Liam exchanged a glance, supposing Harry was right.

“I guess that’s fair,” Louis said. “Liam? You want to show him what you can do?”

Liam smirked, but stepped up to Harry so that there was just a few feet of space between the two of them. Then, with a blink of his eyes, there were three Liams.

Harry flickered his gaze between all three of them. “What?”

Louis took in Harry's reaction and asked, "Why do I get the feeling you've never encountered another immortal before?" 

Harry just shrugged a shoulder. "Maybe I haven't." 

The Liam in the middle, the one that Harry guessed was the real one, walked closer to Harry and whispered in his ear, “And that’s just part of my skill.”

He walked behind Harry, leaving him looking at the two Liam clones. He turned around to ask Liam to elaborate, only to be faced with more Liams, all of them forming a circle around Harry.

He did a quick count, seeing that there were ten of the other man.

“So you can clone yourself?” Harry asked.

All ten copies nodded. 

Louis and Niall chuckled.

“It’s only temporary,” Niall told him. He started walking in their direction. “The thing is, the fake-Liams can't speak or use Liam's other powers, while the real Liam can. The copies are just there to fight, which they do very well. The fake-Liams can feel pain, while Liam can’t. He’s indestructible. They’re mortal, and they’re not as strong as our actual Liam. Watch.”

He walked over to the nearest Liam, and, after giving it a quick once-over, punched him in the stomach.

Harry winced as Liam doubled over in pain and slowly fell to his knees. He started to fade out before disappearing completely.

“Sick,” Harry commented, watching the entire scene play out.

“It’s pretty cool,” Niall replied.

“So how do you know which one is the real Liam?”

“We just do.” Louis smirked. “Why don’t you try?”

Harry squared his shoulders, knowing he couldn’t back down from a challenge.

He faced all of the Liams staring expectantly at him, and started examining them.

They all took on the same stance: legs spread shoulder-width apart, hands folded in front of them and a subtle pout on their lips.

Harry walked up to each one, looking for something that might be different about just one of them.

But it was no use. They looked identical.

He waited a few minutes, thinking that maybe one of them would get a twitch in their eye or something else that would help him. But they were all solid, clearly having practiced waiting out an opponent.

And then he saw something on Liam’s neck, or rather, something missing from his neck.

One by one, he re-examined each Liam, a smile on his face growing wider with each one.

“You’re the real Liam,” he declared, pointing at the Liam to his left.

The Liam in question snorted and simply raised an eyebrow. 

“Nice birthmark," Harry said. 

Liam smiled before all of the other Liams slowly disappeared from the room.

“Impressive,” Liam complimented. “You’re observant.”

“It’s kind of required for what I do.”

“Which is?”

“Nope. Not telling you until I see all of your skills.”

Liam pursed his lips before nodding. “All right.”

“So what else can you do?” Harry asked. “You said that wasn’t it.”

“He’s Defense and Clean-Up,” Louis answered for Liam. “See, he leads all of the battles we fight, using his neat, little cloning skill you’ve just observed. He’s also telekinetic.”

Harry took a step back. “Show me.”

Liam smiled, and his gaze shifted from Harry to a bookshelf against the far wall of the office.

Suddenly, it was flying toward Harry.

He ducked, covering his head with his arms, waiting to hear the inevitable crash of the shelf somewhere in the room.

But it never came.

Slowly, he uncovered his face to see the bookshelf hovering above him, everything on it still perfectly in place.

Liam laughed before sending the shelf back to its original spot.

“So that’s the defense,” Harry said, rising to his feet. “What’s the clean-up?”

“Oh, I can erase people’s memories,” Liam replied nonchalantly. “Make them forget they ever saw us, implant a nice little picture of what they _think_ they did that day instead of realizing our existence.”

“So nobody knows you guys exist?”

“Only the people that work for us.”

“And no one else?”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Of course not! Could you imagine what would happen if they did? People would be asking for favors, for protection.”

“Everybody would want to know when the next potential apocalypse is,” Niall added.

“We’d never get left alone,” Liam finished. “We’d be so bombarded with questions from people that we would miss leads on something bigger. So no, only a select group knows who we are.”

Harry nodded slowly. “That must be a sad life. You guys can’t have any friends. Ever.”

“We get by,” Louis said, his voice a lot more serious than it had been a moment ago.

Harry didn’t want to push the topic. Instead he just said, “All right; next.”

“My turn,” Niall decided. “Well, not really. See, the three of us-” he pointed between himself, Liam and Louis, “-can’t actually use our full powers on each other, but we can do sort of a muted version. I mean, when you two were in your apartment earlier, you couldn’t use your power on Liam, could you?" 

Harry shook his head.

"See? It's an immortal thing. We think it’s some kind of glitch in our systems to prevent us from turning on each other and letting the power get to our heads. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Harry said.

“Good.” Then he stared at Harry, a smirk on his face.

Harry licked his lips. “What?”

“Do you feel that, Harry? That dryness in your mouth?”

Now that Niall mentioned it, Harry did feel a bit thirsty.

“Yeah, actually.”

“Hmm… How about that headache?”

“Is that what you can do? Make me thirsty and give me a migraine?”

“You, yes. See, technically, my power is to manipulate mental states: hunger, thirst, feelings of safety. If I could use my full ability on you, you’d be on the ground groaning in agony, trying not to choke on your own tongue because your mouth is dryer than the Sahara.”

Harry didn’t like the image painted in his head from that.

“I can also inflict pain at the drop of a hat,” Niall concluded with a smile.

Harry took a step back from Niall, who suddenly looked more menacing than he thought possible.

“Yeah, everybody likes to think Niall is this cute, innocent little leprechaun,” Louis said, “with his blonde hair and adorable Irish accent.”

“And anybody who matters knows that that’s a lie,” Niall finished, his smile dropping with every word.

Harry got a chill up his spine from the strange turn this had taken. He’d gone from seeing too many Liams to thinking Niall could torture him if he got bored.

“So, you can make people die, too?” Harry assumed. “Like, of dehydration or from the pain you cause?”

Niall shook his head. “No, of course not.”

“That’s my job.”

Harry stilled, looking over at Louis, who had just spoken. “What?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Louis asked, his face contorting into a twisted smile. “I’m Death.”

“You’re… Death?”

“Well, not Death in the way that most people would imagine it. I don’t appear wearing a black, hooded cloak and carrying a scythe in my hands. More like, I decide whether you live… or die. And if it’s your turn to go, then, I set it into effect.”

“So you can just off somebody if you want to?”

“I didn’t put it so crudely,” Louis sneered, “but essentially, yes.”

“So why don’t you just go around the world getting rid of everybody who’s a problem?”

“Because I’m not a psychopath, that’s why!”

“Lou,” Liam said in a warning tone.

Louis took a deep breath. “I mean, I don’t enjoy the whole killing thing. Just like Liam doesn’t particularly like flinging people through the air or Niall… Well, to be honest, Niall probably has more fun with his ability than we should allow.”

“Hey!” Niall protested.

“But I only use my skill when absolutely necessary,” Louis continued, ignoring Niall’s outburst. “That means I don’t just go around eliminating the world’s henchmen and sidekicks, only the ones overseeing the whole plan.”

“OK…” Harry drawled. “So why don’t you just kill off anybody who’s in charge who’s a problem?”

“Priorities, Harold,” Louis replied in a near-whisper. “The world needs evil; it keeps people going, gives them something to fight for and work toward. You think kids would stand up for themselves against school bullies if they knew I existed? You think honorable men and women everywhere would enlist in police academies and military branches if they understood that I could take out the enemy with a snap of my fingers? Of course not. Besides, sometimes the enemies take each other out, meaning less work for me. I’m only one person; I can’t protect everyone.”

Harry bit his lower lip, taking in all of the information he’d learned so far. He could admit that they had amazing capabilities. If he didn’t love his own so much, he would switch with any one of them.

“So what’s your power?” Louis asked before Harry could properly respond.

“Umm…” he started to say.

“Come on. It’s only fair.”

Harry sighed. “Fine. I tap into a person’s inner seven deadly sins and manipulate the one that will reap the most benefit.”

“The seven deadly sins?” Niall wondered. “Like wrath and envy and all those?”

“Those are the ones. My favorite is pride. Lust is a close second.”

As he said the latter sentence, his eyes may or may not have drifted over to Louis. But that wasn’t important.

“So what did you do with Bennett?” Liam wanted to know.

“And why would I tell you that?”

“Look, if we wanted to turn you in for theft, we would have already. We _are_ the ones with security footage of you leaving Bennett’s office with a bag full of cash. Kind of sloppy on your part, isn’t it?”

Harry was confused. “Why do you have the footage?”

“We have some friends at NYPD. Now tell us. What did you do with Bennett?”

Harry sighed again. “With Bennett, I tapped into his lust. Made out with him a little bit, then convinced him to go somewhere ‘more private.’ Then I built up his pride and made him start bragging about how much money he had, and he showed me where all of his money was stored. After he opened his safe to show me the money, I focused on his sloth and made him so tired and lethargic that he took a fucking nap. Right then and there. So I took the money and bolted.”

“And that was all by staring into his eyes?” Louis asked.

“Yeah. The person I’m working gets a little glow around the irises, and each sin has a distinct color to it. Then they’re under my control until I release them.”

“Interesting.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. So you’ll join us?”

Harry hesitated. “Look, man… You guys seem great-”

“Oh, wait! I almost forgot to tell you the rules!”

Harry scoffed. “There are rules?”

“Of course there are. Rule number one,” Louis began, “is no separation. We stick together on an assignment and don’t stray from it. There are no side jobs while we’re working. You don’t go off on your own to do something that doesn’t follow the plan, otherwise it puts us all at risk. It’s all of us or none of us. Understand?”

Harry nodded stiffly.

“Rule number two is pretty obvious: no telling anyone, unless it's of some benefit. You only tell people your real identity if we can all get something out of it.”

“A mutual gain,” Liam explained further. “Information about schedules and routines, about family and friends. Connections to someone in a higher position, access to weapons, that sort of thing.”

Niall grinned. “Not somebody you think is cute that you want to impress at the bar.”

“I get that one,” Harry said, rolling his eyes. “What else?”

“Easy,” Louis continued. “The third rule is no distractions. Don't get attached to _anyone_ , no matter how well you know them or think they might like you back.” In a lower, sadder tone, Louis said, “You'll outlive them, anyway.”

Harry was about to respond to that last part when Liam interrupted with, “Where’s your family?”

He swallowed back his initial response, which was the truth, but eventually muttered out, “Dead. Have been for a while now.”

The other three nodded, all having the same status.

Harry cleared his throat and looked down at his feet, thinking over whatever the fuck he’d just been told.

“So what’s in it for me?” he eventually asked. “You want me to join you so bad, but what do I get out of this deal?”

Louis scoffed. “You mean, besides being a hero and saving thousands, sometimes millions of people at a time?”

“That I can’t take credit for? I mean, Liam erases memories of anybody who sees you. Nobody remembers you guys, and I’m sure that if he could use his power on me, my memory would be wiped clean the second I leave this building if I say no.”

“Well, you’re not wrong.”

“Exactly. So, I do all of this work, save a bunch of people for… what, exactly? Pride in myself? I already have plenty of that. Feeling big and mighty? Kind of feel that way, too.”

“Well, you’ll have protection by the three of us wherever you go,” Louis told him.

“Wherever I go _with you_ ,” Harry said.

“Which could be anywhere in the world. Europe, America, maybe Australia. You never know where we’ll go next. That’s part of the fun.”

“What else?”

“You get to do anything you want without fear,” Niall tried. “You get to live your life without worrying about whether or not someone’s trying to take you out. We have informants all over the globe who warn us about potentially world-destroying events, and if we can stop it from happening, then we do. We know where the dangers are, meaning we can travel anywhere safely.”

“I’m already immortal,” Harry reminded him. “I already live my life without fear.”

“But you can still feel pain,” Louis said. “Just like Niall and I can.”

“For a second; then I’m back to my regular self.”

“You get to be a part of something that’s bigger than just you,” Liam cut in. “Something that is for the good of the planet, not just yourself. You get to have three people who are constantly looking out for you and have your back. You get to have three people who know you when you feel like you can’t let the rest of the world know who you really are. Your family is gone; so are ours, and everybody you meet will eventually be gone, too. We stopped aging decades before you were even born, so you’re a bit of a baby compared to us. You’re still new to this, but trust me when I say, it gets old real fast having to build new relationships every few decades because the people you call friends grow old without you. How about that?”

Harry clenched his jaw, his nostrils flaring as he held himself back.

When he was younger, he’d always been told that he was an open book, that people could easily read how he felt about anything and everything.

So of course Liam, who, Harry guessed, was more than a hundred years old, could easily see that Harry was a people person, probably made more obvious by the fact that he couldn’t be with the people he wanted most: his family.

“We see you thinking about it,” Louis commented, taking in Harry’s tense figure. “Come on. You know it would be nice to be with people who fully understand you for a change.”

Harry rolled his eyes and looked away from Louis. He wanted this conversation to be over, because frankly, he was tired of it.

There was no way he was going to work with these three, all of whom clearly thought very highly of themselves.

Harry had been alone for a long time. He didn’t need them. He didn’t _want_ them.

“I’ll pass,” he eventually said, pursing his lips out and trying to look as smug as he could about refusing their offer.

Louis smiled. “Why don’t you think about it and come back in a few days?”

“Don’t need to.” Harry shook his head. “I made up my mind. Nice meeting you guys.”

He turned around and left the apartment, making his way down the few flights of stairs and out to the street.

He felt eyes on his back with every step he took.

 

**July 27, 2006**

The next morning, Harry woke up to the sound of his bedroom door banging open.

“What the fuck?” he yelled. When he realized that it was Bennett, flanked by two beefy, muscly guys who could give old school Schwarzenegger a run for his money, his breath hitched in his throat.

“Bennett,” he purred. “How are you, baby?”

“Cut the shit,” Bennett growled.

With that, one of the guys rushed at Harry, uncapping what looked to be pepper spray.

Caught off-guard, Harry couldn’t defend himself, and he was hit right in the eyes with it.

“Fuck!” he yelled, wanting so badly to rub at his eyes, but knowing that he couldn’t.

“Where’s my money, Harry?” Bennett shouted.

“What money?”

“The money you stole from me. I don’t know what you did, but you messed with my head and swindled half a million from my safe.”

Harry felt himself being pulled from his bed and tossed to the floor. He blinked as quickly as he could, trying to get his eyes to make tears to start clearing out the spray. But each blink stung more than the last, and he hissed in pain.

“I don’t tell anybody my combination to that safe, so what did you do?”

“Nothing!”

“Liar!”

Harry felt a swift kick to his stomach, and he clutched tenderly at it while trying to catch his breath.

“Please,” he begged. He couldn’t even see where they were, and had no way to defend himself from them. He couldn’t manipulate them if he couldn’t see them.

“Where’s. The. Money?”

Each word was punctuated by a punch somewhere on his body, but Harry still didn’t talk.

Harry’s hand, which had been lying on the floor, suddenly started crunching. He yelled out in agony, feeling the heel of someone’s shoe digging into the bone.

“You gonna tell me?”

“I don’t have it!” Harry insisted.

“Fine.”

That’s when he heard Bennett cock the gun.

\---

“You ready?” Liam asked, walking up to Harry’s front door with Louis and Niall.

“Yeah.” Louis shrugged. “Should be easy.”

Niall nodded in agreement.

With a quick grin, Liam kicked the door down. The three of them raced inside, unsurprised to see Harry on the ground surrounded by Bennett and his henchmen, with Bennett pointing a gun right at Harry’s head.

In a flash, three Liams charged toward them. The real Liam went for Bennett himself, while his copies fought off the others.

Niall and Louis stood back, waiting for the hard work to be over, watching as different versions of Liam threw punches and dodged the mist from a pepper spray can. One Liam got in a particularly rough-looking knee to the groin before one of Bennett’s cohorts fell to the ground.

In under a minute, the situation was under control, with both of Bennett’s sidekicks unconscious on the ground, and Liam with Bennett in a headlock.

“Niall, you’re up,” Louis spoke calmly.

Niall grinned and took a step forward.

“Harry, love, keep blinking your eyes,” Louis reminded the squirming man still on the ground.

As soon as he finished his sentence, Bennett was on the ground, as well, screaming and clutching at his skull and stomach at the same time.

“Oh, Bennett,” Louis said in a mocking tone. He walked past the two other Liams in the room and knelt down to get on the suffering man’s level. “You’re worth a lot more than a couple of thousand dollars that Harry stole from you.”

“It wasn’t a couple!” Harry gritted out.

“Quiet!” Louis barked. “Nothing out of you until I finish cleaning up your mess.”

Harry bit his lower lip, understanding that as much as he hated it, he really needed Louis, Niall and Liam right now. He thought it best to hold his tongue.

“Now, what was I saying? Oh, right: let go of your pride. You will leave Harry alone.”

“Or what?” Bennett gasped out. Louis could tell that Niall had let some of the pain subside. “Who the fuck are you?”

“I’m your worst nightmare if you don’t leave my boy alone,” Louis threatened. “Clearly, I’ve been keeping track of you if I knew where you’d be today, and why you were here. Do you really want me to come back?”

Bennett responded by spitting in Louis’ direction. It didn’t make contact, but it was still the wrong thing to do.

Louis slowly looked down at the floor in disgust before raising his gaze to Bennett’s reddened face. “Now, why would you go and do that?” he calmly asked.

* * *

* * *

Harry blinked a few more times, his vision partially clearing up, and he closely watched what happened.

Louis fixed his gaze on Bennett’s face, the right side of his mouth pulling up into a malicious half-smile.

Bennett started gasping, breathing in shallow breaths as a hand flew to the left side of his abdomen. He gulped for air, his eyes watering as he realized what was happening.

And then his head fell to the floor, his arms flopping down, as well.

They all stood in silence before Harry eventually broke it with a cry. “Is he…?”

“Dead,” Louis declared coolly. “Yup. Poor guy. His appendix just burst. It’s a shame he couldn’t get to a hospital in time, but it just happened so fast.”

“Pity,” Niall added, not bothering to hide his smirk.

Liam shrugged a shoulder before looking at his copies. With a blink, both of them vanished.

“Oh, my God,” Harry whispered. “I’ve never seen a dead person before.”

“They look the same as they did when they were alive,” Louis rolled his eyes. “Just don’t move as much.”

Harry wrinkled his nose.

* * *

* * *

“Now get dressed,” Louis ordered, “pack up everything you’ll ever need and meet us in your living room. You owe me, and you’re not coming back here.”

He turned and walked out of the room without a glance back. Liam followed him without a word, while Niall added a giddy, “Come on, man. You’ll have fun with us,” before exiting the room, too.

Harry pushed himself up to sit on his shins, examining the room. Bennett was undeniably dead, while his two friends were likely to be waking up soon. And Harry didn’t really want to be here when they did.

Although, now that he thought of it, Liam probably planned on waking them up and clearing their memories before they left the apartment.

Shaking his head at what his life had become, he quickly changed and packed up his things before going to the living room to join the others.

As if he really had a choice.

\---

“Show us your power.”

Harry looked up from the French toast he was eating.

The four of them had left Harry’s apartment and found themselves at a diner a few miles away after Harry had packed up all of his prized possessions, which sadly fit into three suitcases.

“Excuse me?” Harry asked.

“Show us your power,” Louis repeated. “Doesn’t matter how or who, just do it.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Sure it is. You pick someone, fuck with their heads for a few minutes and get something out of it. What’s complicated about that?”

“Well, first and foremost, I need to establish eye contact with the person I’m controlling. I can’t pick just anyone.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Fine. How about the waiter?”

“The waiter? What do you want him to do?”

“Like I already said, it doesn’t matter.”

Harry sat up straighter in his seat and looked over to the waiter, a young man with dark brown hair and brown eyes who looked like he was maybe around twenty years old.

“All right, I got something,” Harry muttered before waving him over. “Watch his eyes.”

“Anything I can get for you, sir?” the waiter, Dave, asked kindly.

“Not right now, man; I just wanted to say that you’re doing such a good job as our waiter.”

“Really? Well, thank you, sir.”

“Absolutely, and um…” Harry’s tone shifted slightly. Louis, Niall and Liam could hear the drop in his voice, now lower than it had been before. “I think you’re the best waiter I’ve ever had.”

They watched as a purple glowing light formed around the irises of Dave’s eyes.

“Well, you know,” Dave started to brag, “I used to play restaurant with my sister when we were kids.”

“Oh, really?” Harry asked, pretending to be engaged in the conversation. He sat forward and placed his elbow on the table, extending his arm upward so he could rest his chin on the palm of his hand. “Do tell.”

“Yeah, I was always the waiter, and she would give me food orders, and I would have to hurry up and get the food out to the customer. I was pretty quick.”

“That’s so impressive,” Harry said in a flirty tone.

“Yeah, I’m kind of a big deal around here,” Dave continued. “The other waiters kind of look up to me. I mean, I don’t know what my boss would do without me. I’m definitely the best one here.”

“Is that so?”

“Hell yeah, it is.”

“That’s interesting, because your boss said you’re kind of a shit waiter.”

“Nah,” Dave said, waving off Harry’s accusation. “He’d be lost without me.”

“No, really,” Harry said, the pitch of his voice dropping again. “He said that you’re terrible at your job and that you need to be fired.”

As Harry spoke, the glow in Dave’s eyes shifted from purple to fiery red. The smile he wore on his face changed into a snarl.

“He fucking said what?” he yelled, making some people surrounding them look their way.

“I think he said he wants to fight you, too.”

“OK. OK,” Dave grunted, nodding his head and taking off his apron. “I’ll fight him. This fucker’s going down.”

“I think he went outside if you want to go get him,” Harry suggested.

“Oh, fuck this shit. Nobody calls me a shit waiter and gets away with it.”

Dave started walking away, and Louis, Liam and Niall were actually concerned for what was going to happen next.

But Harry stopped him with a hand on his forearm.

“Actually, Dave,” Harry started, his voice just a touch higher, “your boss didn’t say that.”

“Yeah, he did. I knew he had it out for me. I’ll fucking kill him.”

“He said you were a good worker who needs to take more breaks. You’ve been working so hard, haven’t you, Dave?”

Once again, the color in Dave’s eyes changed, but it went from red to light blue.

“I do work really hard,” Dave agreed, scratching at his side.

“You should take a break, Dave,” Harry said. “Maybe even a nap.”

“Yeah, yeah. A nap sounds good.”

Dave walked slowly away, yawning and rubbing at his face. He took a seat at an empty booth and folded his arms on the table. He rested his forehead on top of them, shutting his eyes to take a nap.

Harry smiled at the others before taking another bite of his food.

“What the fuck was that?” Niall asked in confusion.

“Sin manipulation,” Harry answered easily.

“No, I see that, but… What the fuck was that?”

Louis cut in. “I’m going to guess that was a shift from pride to wrath to sloth?”

“Very good,” Harry praised. “See, I figured that since he’s a young guy, this is probably one of his first jobs. So, I gave him some compliments, built up his pride a little bit before grabbing hold of it. And, it’s easy to get anybody angry at their boss who may or may not be trashing them behind their backs. And sloth, well, who doesn’t want to take a nap at work?”

“Not bad.”

“Thank you.”

“I don’t even know how I feel about watching that,” Liam said. “That was a mindfuck, that’s for sure.”

“How do you think they feel?” Harry asked, tilting his head toward Dave.

“How long will that last? The sloth?”

“Not for much longer. Once the eye contact is gone, the control is only temporary. Shouldn’t be more than another few minutes.”

“Is that because you’re new?” Louis wondered.

“What?”

“The ‘eye contact only’ thing.”

“Probably. I didn’t really start using this power until a few years ago.”

“Why’s that?” Niall asked.

“Didn’t want it. I mean, I’d always been very charismatic growing up. People thought I was flirting with them, when really, I was just being nice.”

“Can’t see that at all,” Louis deadpanned.

“Anyway, once I stopped aging, I resented it. My family and friends grew up without me, and I stifled it for years.”

“What changed?” Liam asked.

Harry cleared his throat and looked down at his lap. “My situation, I guess,” he said quietly.

The other three decided not to push him any further on the topic.

Louis sighed. “So. What do you say? Will you work with us?”

Harry looked around the diner, seeing all of the different faces that didn’t know who he was. Not like they would’ve, otherwise.

After swindling Bennett, Harry had been trying to figure out where to go next. And now that Bennett was dead, he really didn’t want to stick around the area.

“How often do you do it?” Harry wanted to know. “Like, how often are you off saving the world?”

“Few times a month,” Liam answered. “Sometimes. Other times, we get weeks off at a time because people realize that killing innocent citizens is the wrong thing to do.”

“So you actually do get free time? I like my freedom.”

“Your freedom almost got you shot an hour ago,” Louis reminded him.

Harry glared at him, and Louis responded with a simple wink.

“But yes, I suppose we do get time off from this. We do actually have somewhere to be in a few days, though.”

“Where’s that?”

Louis shook his head. “Not telling you until you agree.”

Harry sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck.

_What do I really have to lose?_

“Fine. I’m in.”

Louis smiled while Niall and Liam let out small cheers of victory.

“Where are we headed?”

“Do you have a passport?” Niall asked. “Probably should’ve asked this sooner, but we can get you a fake one if you need it.”

“No, I have one.”

“Good.”

“We’re going to Germany,” Louis finally revealed.

“Germany?” Harry repeated.

“Germany. We told you: you never know where you’ll end up next.”

Harry raised his eyebrows in acknowledgement.

_What have I just gotten myself into?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The event in Russia really happened. You can read about it [here](http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1994/In-Disarmament-Breakthroughs-Clinton-Yeltsin-Sign-Nuclear-Accords/id-c47d24f57ae53350868e17ea094a17e0).


	2. Cologne

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Michelle for doing the German translations for this chapter!
> 
> One character in this chapter has Alzheimer's. You'll probably be able to figure out who. 
> 
> There is one scene of minor character death in this chapter. It's not technically a character, but it's one of Liam's copies. I understand that might make some people squeamish. So, same as last chapter - skip the part in between the double lines.

**Washington D.C.**

**August 29, 1902**

 

Louis stumbled out of the local bar, hearing plenty of shouting behind him.

So what if he didn’t pay his bar tab? Or the one from two days ago? Or the ones from last week, either?

Did that mean he didn’t deserve to have a few spirits after a long day of lounging around his apartment doing absolutely nothing?

He shrugged off the bitter feelings he felt as he walked away from the building, knowing the barkeep would forget all about this tomorrow.

He would return and be welcomed back with open arms, encouraged to sit at his favorite stool and get his first whiskey on the house.

Louis just had to get home first so he  _could_ return soon.

He made a right down an alley that he was pretty sure would get him back to his apartment. Seconds after he made the turn, he felt a little extra woozy in his step.

He looked down at his spectator shoes in confusion before he felt it again.

He hadn’t gone on that big of a bash, had he?

“Damn,” Louis heard whispered behind him.

He turned around, now facing a guy who looked in need of a shave, the shadow on his face way past five o’clock. He had brown eyes and a buzz cut like he wanted to enlist, not that there was a war going on at the moment.

But there was something off about him, and Louis wanted to know what it was.

“You trying to do me in?” he asked suspiciously.

“No, just… Wanted to yank your wallet.”

“Oh. Did you get it?”

The kid shook his head, looking bashful.

“Hmm…”

Louis stared at him, and focused his attention on the kid’s neck. After a few seconds, he started rubbing at it, like it was bugging him.

“Something wrong?” Louis asked.

“Got a cramp.”

“Oh yeah? What about now?”

Louis stopped looking at the kid, and could’ve laughed at the realization.

People like him were supposed to be a myth, but it looked like they weren’t.

“That was weird,” the kid said.

Louis shook his head. “I’m like you, you bonehead.”

“Huh?”

Louis extended a hand. “I’m Louis, and you couldn’t do me in if you tried.”

“Liam,” he replied, taking Louis’ hand. “And how’d ya know?”

“How old are you?” Louis asked instead.

“Twenty-one.”

“How old are you really?”

Liam paused.

“I should be turning ninety-three this year,” Louis offered.

“Today’s my birthday. I should be thirty-nine.”

“Happy Birthday, Liam.”

“Thanks.”

“You got a broad at home?”

Liam shook his head.

“Where’s your ma? Your pop?”

“Kicked the bucket. My sisters, too. Fire at the house.”

“My condolences.”

“It’s all right,” Liam said.

“Where ya live now?”

Liam looked around sheepishly, but didn’t say anything.

“Here? The streets?”

“Well, yeah. Banks aren’t giving me money, and my friends are good for nothing, so…”

“You can stay with me.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m nice; that’s why. And we’re a lot alike, so…”

“You sure about that?”

Louis nodded. “Yup. Now show me what you can do.”

Liam blinked, and suddenly, there were three of him, all staring calmly at Louis. With another blink, two of them vanished.

“Holy smokes,” Louis whispered.

“Yeah. Oh, and…” Liam looked down at a piece of trash on the street. In an instant, it was floating in front of Louis’ face and around his head.

“I had more scotch than I thought,” Louis said, watching the trash return to its spot.

Liam shrugged. “Your turn.”

“I already showed you mine. That cramp? If you were anybody else, your neck would be broken so bad you'd be looking away from me right now.”

Liam winced at the visual. “Oh.”

“Yeah. So look, I’m beat and I got a couch you can crash on, if you want it.”

“You’re not gonna off me in my sleep, are ya?”

“Don’t think I can.”

Liam nodded. “OK. Stinks spending my birthday alone.”

“Well come on, then. Let’s go.”

 

**New York City**

**July 28, 2006**

 

Harry woke up in an unfamiliar bedroom. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, unwilling to move until he remembered where he was.

And then it all came rushing back to him: Bennett attacking him in his apartment, the boys saving him, Liam wiping the memories of Bennett’s sidekicks, Harry packing up all of his stuff, showing them his abilities and finally, agreeing to work with them.

And now he was in one of the bedrooms of Louis’ large New York City apartment, the address of which he wasn’t even completely sure of.

He sat up and stretched before swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He could hear voices elsewhere in the apartment, so he figured he should go talk to the other men and find out what the next move was.

He opened the door and walked down the long hallway, passing by the bathroom he’d been rudely awakened in just two days ago.

He found all three of them eating breakfast in the kitchen.

“I was just about to come get you,” Niall said when he entered the room. “Come on. We just took pancakes off the stove, and everything else is done.”

Harry looked at the spread laid out on the table: orange juice, milk, scrambled eggs, butter, bacon, toast and a plate full of steaming hot pancakes.

The other three already had food on their plates, and there was a fourth plate set for him.

“Wow. Um, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Liam said. “We do this every morning.”

“You have breakfast together every morning?” Harry asked.

“Yup. Sometimes it’s the only time we spend together where we’re not working or talking about work or training for work. It’s nice.”

“It sounds nice.”

Louis, who had been silently drinking a cup of tea and reading a copy of  _The New York Times_ , looked up at Harry and said, “Were you going to sit down with us, then?”

“Oh, of course.”

Harry sat in the empty seat and started piling food on his plate.

“Hungry?” Niall wondered, noting the three pancakes, large chunk of scrambled eggs and four pieces of bacon.

“Just a little. Seems like having a gun pointed in my face really takes a lot out of me.”

“Oh,” Louis said. “Then you might not like what we have in mind for today.”

“Why not?” Harry wanted to know.

“Well, we wanted to do a bit of training before we leave tomorrow. You know, working together as a group of four instead of three.”

“Oh, that sounds good. What’s happening?”

Louis grinned. “Just eat your breakfast.”

\---

The four of them walked into the police station a few hours later, and Harry felt like he shouldn’t have been surprised.

Liam walked up to the front desk and asked for Sophia Smith, someone Harry didn’t know.

One of the men who sat there scoffed and said, “Is she expecting you?”

“Of course,” Liam said smoothly. “My name’s Liam, and I’m here with three friends. She knows who I am.”

The man rolled his eyes, but stood up from his desk and went into the main room anyway. The other man who sat there glanced up at them, but returned to the paperwork he was filling out.

They waited just a moment before the officer came back, looking red-faced and a little embarrassed.

“Go on back, sirs,” he said before hitting the buzzer to unlock the door to the left.

“Thank you very much,” Liam replied sweetly.

They walked through the door and down a short hallway that led to another door. Liam opened it and they found themselves in a large office, with a few officers on the phone at their desks, and the rest listening in to the conversations they were having.

Liam didn’t pay them any mind, and continued walking. He went past everyone, getting just a few looks of confusion as he did, and walked up to a door at the very back of the room.

He opened it without bothering to knock and held the door open for the others to enter.

“Hello, boys,” a brunette woman with her feet propped up on her desk greeted them. She had pouty, full lips, beautiful olive green eyes and round cheeks. She wore a full police uniform, complete with a dark blue blazer and pair of pants and a white button-down shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun, although a few strands had managed to work themselves loose.

“Smithers!” Liam walked over to the desk and bent down to give her a hug. “How have you been, babe?”

“I’m good. And you?”

"Excellent, as always."

"Glad to hear it." 

She stood up and gave Niall and Louis a hug before saying, “Hi, Harry. Nice to finally meet you.”

Harry furrowed his brow as he shook the hand she had extended toward him. “Um, sorry. How did you know my name?”

“Long story short, I would’ve sent you to jail for theft if these three hadn’t stepped in and taken you for themselves. I’m glad you accepted their offer.”

Harry looked back and forth between Sophia and the other guys. Then it clicked. “Right. Footage. Friends at NYPD. Got it.”

“You catch on quickly,” Louis praised. “Good for you.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“So, you guys are in luck,” Sophia told them. “A few minutes ago, I would’ve told you I didn’t have anything for you to practice on. But your timing is impeccable. We have a bank robbery in progress: National Bank on Park Avenue. I’ve already dispatched men, but it couldn’t hurt to have you boys on the case, as well. They’ve got guns and hostages, and I’ve got a negotiator en route.”

“We’re on it,” Louis told her. “Thanks for the job, Soph.”

“Any time. I’m sure I’ll know when you’re done.”

“You will. Come on, boys.”

“Good luck; not that you’ll need it,” Sophia said as the boys left her office.

Harry followed Niall and Louis out, and glanced back when he realized Liam wasn’t right behind him.

He watched as Sophia blew Liam a kiss, and Liam blew her back one, as well. He also winked at her before walking slowly out of the office.

Harry turned around before either of them noticed him watching their private moment.

He made a mental note to ask Niall about that later.

\---

“All right, so what’s the plan?” Harry asked as they stood across the street from the bank.

There were already police on the scene, and officers were standing behind the open doors to their squad cars. They had their guns pointed toward the building, ready to open fire if necessary.

The street had been blocked off, but that certainly didn’t stop a small crowd from forming behind the barriers.

“This bank should have a second floor,” Louis started, “which means there’s a fire escape around the back. I say we go through a second floor window and scope out the scene from above.”

“Don’t you think cops will have tried that already?”

Niall considered the possibility. “Maybe they have, but maybe they haven’t. We’re sure as hell not getting in through the front door, so since we’re here, we need to check all of our options.”

They walked around the side of the building, and there was a side door that had already been forced open.

“Or, they did the stupid thing and went in through the fire exit,” Louis commented with a roll of his eyes. “Liam, you’re up.”

Liam looked up and found the ladder to the fire escape. He reached an arm up and made a pull down motion with it. But the ladder didn’t come down.

“It must be stuck,” Liam said. He tried again, but to no avail. “All right, then. Plan B.”

He reached out toward a dumpster that was about twenty feet down the alley. He pulled his arm back, and it came flying toward them. He put up a hand, and it stopped right under the ladder for the escape.

Liam climbed onto the closed dumpster and tried jumping up to grab the ladder, but it was just out of reach.

“OK, then.” He blinked, and he had two copies of himself on the dumpster with him.

The copies got down on their hands and knees, and Liam stepped onto their backs. Then he jumped again, and this time, he caught hold of the ladder.

Louis, Harry and Niall watched as Liam shimmied his way up the ladder until he could get his feet up onto it, then he climbed the rest of the way to the landing. He looked down and moved the dumpster back to its original spot before getting a firm hold on the ladder and shoving it down to the ground.

“Nice work,” Louis complimented as he started to climb up.

“Thanks.”

He stuck two fingers out, getting them close to the bottom of the window in front of him. He flicked them upwards, and the window slid open.

Liam crawled through, and the other three followed once they reached the landing.

They found themselves inside of an office that looked like it belonged to a higher-up. It had tan carpet and white walls, with a large desk in front of the windows on their right.

They exited through the door ahead of them and walked out into a large hallway at the top of a set of stairs. There was a railing near the steps that looked out over the room below.

They slowly made their way to the railing and peered over the edge.

They saw people huddled together in small groups while five men in all black with masks on their faces paced back and forth, holding at least one gun each.

There was noise coming from somewhere else in the bank, probably another person messing with the safe behind the front desk.

“This might not be too bad,” Liam said after taking in the scene. “I’ll just grab all of their guns, Niall can get them down to the ground, Louis can get whoever’s in the back, and Harry can get all of the hostages out. Done.”

The others nodded at Liam’s plan. It was pretty straightforward. They stepped back to let Liam do his part.

He put his arms out in front of him, watched the robbers’ movements and pulled his arms back.

The problem was, only three of the guns came up toward him. The other two wobbled in their step as they held tightly onto their guns.

“Shit,” Liam whispered as he caught the guns in his hands.

“What happened?” Louis hissed as he heard someone yelling, “Who’s up there?”

“They’re like us. At least the two of them are. OK, Plan C.”

Liam blinked his eyes a few times until there were about five copies of him standing behind him.

“Niall and Louis, take care of the guys who don't have their guns and I’ll fight the rest? Harry, get everyone out. I’ll cover you.”

Without another word, Liam and all of his copies ran down the stairs, throwing punches at the two men who were already on their way up.

“Never a dull moment,” Niall commented before running down, as well.

“You ready? Come on!” Louis yelled at Harry, who had frozen in his spot.

At Louis’ words, he came alive, and followed him to the main floor.

It was a blur of Liam, who was fighting the immortal robbers as well as sending flying bullets away from the other boys.

Harry ran to the main door and unlocked it before yelling at the hostages to get up and out.

“Stay low,” he urged them as they made their way to the door. He looked to see the status of the fight and saw one Liam flying through the air and landing flat on his back. Apparently there was another strong immortal in their midst.

Another Liam kicked a burglar in his knees, sending him down to the ground. He snatched the gun out of his hand and hit him over the head with it.

Niall had one mortal thief lying on the ground and was trying to get information out of him.

Louis, surprisingly enough, was fighting right alongside Liam. He was rapidly throwing punches at the man in front of him, who was blocking each of them. Louis threw a quick jab at the man’s head, but the robber grabbed Louis’ arm, and held onto it as he twisted it backward and moved himself behind Louis.

Harry was about to run over and help, until he saw Louis drop down to the floor and slide himself backward between the man’s legs.

By the time the thief turned around, Louis had grabbed hold of the man’s ankles and pulled on them, causing the man to fall onto his back. Louis got up, kicked the man in the groin and then punched him in the face.

Harry only had a few seconds to be impressed before hearing even more gunshots in the back. That’s when he remembered the police that had gone in through the fire exit, and were probably fighting whatever burglar was near the safe, whether they were mortal or not.

Seeing that most of the hostages were out of the building, and the last few were almost to the door, Harry took off running.

He heard his name shouted out, but he ignored it, trying to get there as fast as he could to help the officers he hoped were still alive.

With speed on his side, he leapt over the counter and ran to the left, through the door at the back. He found himself in a room that led to safety deposit boxes on one side, and another door that likely led to the bank’s vault.

He followed the noise to his right, and found the police officers. There were four of them. Two were unconscious, likely knocked out by the barrel of a gun, and the other two were attempting to fight the two burglars that had been trying to break into the safe.

At the sight of Harry, the first robber shoved the officer to the ground and stomped down on his face, knocking him unconscious.

He looked at Harry, and that was his chance. Harry made eye contact, and soon, a light blue glow appeared in the robber’s eyes.

Harry planned on making it so he would take a nap, but he didn’t have enough time.

Because then the second thief kicked the cop he had been fighting and then pointed his gun at Harry. His finger pulled the trigger before Harry could even try to work his power over him.

The bullet, however, never made contact with Harry, as it was sent flying backward. A split second later, both burglars were knocked off their feet, as well.

Harry turned around and saw Liam and Louis rushing in.

“We good?” Liam asked.

“Good,” Louis confirmed.

Liam glared at Harry before running back out to the main room to finish the fight, which sounded like it was just about over.

“Louis I’m so-”

Harry never got to finish, as Louis had grabbed him by the front of his shirt and slammed him backward against the wall behind him.

“Louis!”

“What were you thinking?” Louis hissed.

“I’m sorry!”

“You idiot! You strayed from the plan and almost got yourself shot. You _never_ stray from the plan and you _never_ run at bullets without Liam behind you. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Louis!”

“Don’t make me regret this, Harry,” Louis spat in his face.

“Hands in the air!”

“Get your hands up!”

Reluctantly, Louis took a step back from Harry, and did as he was just instructed to do by the police officers who were now walking toward them with guns aimed at their heads.

Louis sighed before yelling out, “Liam! You’re up!”

\---

Once the hostages were out of the bank, the police officers who had been waiting in the street had, of course, rushed into the building. That meant that they saw the boys and had questions for why they were inside.

After Liam adjusted all of the officers’ and hostages’ memories to make them forget that they saw the boys, the four of them exited the building through the fire door.

They returned to the apartment and Harry felt like he was going to be yelled at again.

But to his surprise, Louis went to his room without a glance in Harry’s direction, and Liam plopped himself on the couch, ignoring Harry, as well.

Niall took pity on him, though. He grabbed Harry by the wrist and pulled him into his room.

“I fucked up, Niall,” Harry moaned, sitting on Niall’s bed.

“Yeah, you did,” Niall agreed. “But you can learn from this.”

“Louis hates me now, doesn’t he?”

“For today? Probably.”

“Gee, that makes me feel better.”

Niall rolled his eyes. “I’m not here right now to make you feel better. I’m here to make sure you don’t pull that shit again. Word of advice? Learn your place. Look, you’re headstrong. You’re independent. You’re not used to playing backup in a plan yet. Am I wrong?”

Harry reluctantly shook his head.

“Well, you need to learn. You’re part of a team now, and we all have different strengths. You’re not as strong as Liam; none of us are. We can’t fight off five or more people at a time. But Louis and I are strong in our own ways. We can bring men to their knees with just a flash of our eyes. In case you didn’t see, Louis also packs a mean punch when he’s trying not to kill someone.”

“I did notice.”

“And then there’s you, who’s still so new to this that his powers aren’t fully developed. You’re a kid, despite your technical age, and your ego needs to take a backseat if you plan on working with us. You’re at the bottom of the totem pole, but don’t worry; you’ll work your way up.”

“I’m not a kid,” Harry mumbled. “I’m seventy-six.”

“Yeah, and Louis will be two hundred in a few years,” Niall replied. “Let me put it this way: Louis, Liam and I have been working together since 1918. That’s longer than you’ve been alive. Plus, you haven’t been using your power your whole life, only recently. So yes, in our eyes, you are a kid, practically an infant. And what did I just tell you about that ego? Look, Harry, you seem like a good guy, but you need to learn to keep your mouth shut and take some goddamn orders if you plan on sticking it out with us.”

Harry looked down at the ground, fully listening to what Niall was saying.

He could admit he’d been stupid today, rushing behind the desk without thinking about what he might encounter. And he definitely didn’t look that great when he needed Louis and Liam to save him.

“Sorry,” Harry said sincerely.

Niall shrugged. “It’s OK. Just don’t do it again, all right?”

Harry nodded his head. “I won’t. Promise.”

 

**July 29, 2006**

 

Harry walked into Smithdale Assisted Living Center the next morning to find the front desk empty. He signed in anyway, and waited just a moment until Rose, the center director, came hurrying up.

“Hello, Mr. Styles! It’s good to see you again today.”

“Thank you, Rose,” Harry greeted. “It’s good to be here. Is Gemma feeling up to a visitor today?”

“I believe so. She’s by the windows again. Let’s go see.”

Harry followed Rose down the hallway and around the corner, right into a large sunroom.

“There she is. I’ll leave you to it.”

Harry thanked her and walked over to his sister.

Gemma still looked the same as she always had: bright, brown eyes, long, slender nose and pale pink, pouty lips. Her hair, however, which had once been long and in different colors of the rainbow, was now gray and quite short. There was just enough of it to put into a small bun at the back of her head. Her skin, once smooth, was now wrinkled, with deep lines set in around her eyes.

She would be eighty years old in December, and Harry could honestly say she looked good for her age.

She sat in a blue, padded chair facing the window. The sunlight streamed in through it and made her face seem just as radiant as it had been when they were younger.

Harry grabbed a nearby empty chair and pulled it up next to his sister.

He sat down in it and lightly touched her hand, which rested in her lap.

She didn’t startle; she had never been one to flinch at sudden contact. Instead, she glanced down at the hand that held her own and looked to see who it belonged to.

Her face slowly broke into a smile when she saw who it was.

“Harry,” she said quietly, but still happily. “How are you, little brother? It’s so good to see you.”

“Hey, Gem. I’m doing well. How are you feeling?”

“Bit tired, I suppose. I’m so glad you came to see me.”

“Well, I actually have some news for you.”

Gemma gasped. “Are you seeing someone? Oh, please say you are. I want to be an aunt, Harry. I’m nearly thirty; I think it’s about time.”

“No, Gemma.” Harry chuckled. “Nothing like that. I have a new job.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! What is it?”

“Well, I can’t actually tell you too much about it, I’m afraid. But it’s in… law enforcement.”

“Really? That’s amazing, Harry. Law enforcement… Wow. Wait, if you can’t tell me about it, what does that mean? Is it the FBI? The CIA? Please tell me! I promise I won’t tell anyone, H.”

Harry shook his head. “Sorry. It’s Top Secret. Grade A confidential.”

“You’re just being mean now. But OK. That’s still great news. I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks, Gem.”

They talked for another half hour, with Gemma filling him in on the new pudding served at lunchtime – she didn’t like it as much as the old brand – and letting him know she needed a new book of crossword puzzles. She was nearly done the last one Harry had bought her.

It was going well until Gemma started to get confused.

“Where’s Michal?” she asked.

Harry pressed his lips together, holding back information. The ‘Michal’ in question was Gemma’s late husband. He had passed away almost eight years ago, a year or two before Gemma’s symptoms started appearing.

“Michal!” she called out. She started to get up from her seat, but Harry stopped her.

“Oh, Michal just went to get us some tea,” he said, getting her to sit back down.

“Well he’s taking forever. He should know how I like my tea by now. We’ve been together for five years.”

“I know, Gem. I know.”

He looked at his watch, and sadly realized that he had to leave.

“Gem, I have to go. I have a flight to Cologne to catch in a few hours.”

“You’re going to Cologne? In Germany? Why?”

“Oh, it’s for my new job.”

“You have a new job?” Gemma exclaimed. “That’s wonderful. What is it?”

Harry paused, feeling that familiar clenching in his chest when he realized Gemma didn’t remember anything they had talked about that day.

“It’s in law enforcement. But, it’s really Top Secret. I can’t tell you.”

“Oh, come on! I’m your big sister. You tell me everything.”

_Not everything._

“Sorry, Gemma. Come on; you know I have to be a pain in the ass about something.”

“You’ve always been a pain in the ass, Harry. Ever since we were kids, and you never stopped.”

Harry smiled. “Love you, Gem.”

“I guess I love you, too, little brother. Even if you’re keeping cool secrets from me.”

Harry leaned over and kissed his sister on the top of her head. “I’ll be by to visit again soon, OK?”

“You better be,” Gemma said as she wrapped her frail arms around him. “And bring a baby with you next time. I’d love to be an aunt soon. I’m not getting any younger here.”

“Of course. Bye, Gemma.”

“Bye, little bro.”

Harry took a step back and admired his aging sister, who still wore a smile on her face.

He started walking away, feeling emotional, as he did every time he had to leave her. He knew she was in good hands, but he still wished there was something else he could do to help her, to make the Alzheimer’s go away.

\---

“Where have you been?”

Harry paused in the doorway to the apartment.

Louis, Liam and Niall were sitting at the table eating breakfast. It had been Louis who had asked the question, and all three were staring, waiting for a response.

“Oh, just went for a walk,” Harry answered vaguely. He shut the door behind him and kicked off his shoes.

“Oh, really? Just a walk?”

“Yup. Just a walk.”

Louis nodded, not believing Harry’s answer at all.

“Next time, let us know when you leave,” Liam said before taking a bite of his oatmeal.

“We just want to make sure you’re not ditching us,” Niall explained.

“Right. Sorry. Um, yeah I’ll tell you next time.”

Harry sat down at the place setting they’d left for him before loading up his plate. He felt eyes on him with every move he made.

\---

“So tell me about you.”

Louis’ eyes shot open. He _had_ been taking a nice nap on the plane over to Cologne. He cursed his own poor luck that Liam and Niall had rushed to sit together on one side of the aisle, leaving him to sit next to Harry, because now, he was the one who had to make small talk.

Louis hated small talk.

“What?”

Harry grinned. “Tell me about you, Louis.”

“No.”

“Why not? You know a bunch of stuff about me; why shouldn’t I know something about you?”

“Because there are people around,” Louis hissed. He wasn’t about to reveal details of his immortality to Harry while they sat on a crowded airplane. Anyone could hear them, and there was no telling who was friendly and who wasn’t.

“I don’t mean that kind of stuff. But what’s something you enjoy doing?”

“I already told you what I enjoy doing, and you made fun of me because we get no recognition for it.”

“OK…” Harry sighed. “Let’s try this from a different approach. Do you like to play any sports?”

“I like football.”

“American or regular?”

“The _real_ football,” Louis answered. “God, I’ve been to a lot of countries in my life and I can honestly say that only Americans would change the name of a sport because it doesn’t fit their standards.”

“Oh, I hit a sore spot.”

“You did not.”

“Sure, I didn’t.” Harry laughed.

Louis rolled his eyes. “Well, your turn. What do you do? Play any sports?”

“Nah. Not very good at them, although I’m pretty decent at ping pong, if you consider that a sport.”

“I don’t.”

“Well that’s rude,” Harry huffed. “Ping pong requires a lot of hand-eye coordination and quick-thinking skills. Plus you have to be quick on your feet if you want to keep the ball in play.”

“Oh, now _I_ hit a sore spot.”

“Shut up.”

Louis chuckled and laid his head back against his seat.

“So what else?”

“What else what?”

“What else about you? Come on; there has to be more to you than just a love of football.”

“Not really.”

“Please?” Harry smiled softly and stared at Louis. He batted his eyelashes a few times, which only confused Louis.

“What’s with your eyes? Are you having a stroke?”

“No, I’m not having a stroke! Just tell me something else about you!”

“OK, fine. Jesus… Are you always this annoying?” Louis asked with a huff.

“Yeah. Didn’t you read that in the little file you have about me?”

Louis shushed him before looking around the first class section. Everybody else seemed to be sleeping, but you could never be too careful.

“Fine. Just shut up.” Louis took a deep breath before speaking again. “I speak twelve languages. When I was younger, I always wanted to be a schoolteacher. I’ve also always wanted to travel, and thankfully, I’ve been able to over the past _few_ years. I grew up on a farm, with my-”

He cut himself off with a shuddery breath, memories of his childhood rushing back to him.

Harry nodded, encouraging Louis to continue. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”

Louis sighed. “I lived with my parents and four younger sisters. Until I ran away.”

“Why did you-?”

Louis shot him a glance, and Harry realized why Louis would ever run away. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh. Anyway, I met Liam a while later, and finally Niall and here we are.”

“Here we are: on a plane to Cologne for work that you still won’t tell me about.”

Louis winked, but still didn’t give any more information.

“Lovely, you are.”

“Thank you,” Louis said. “Your turn, since you insisted on this.”

“OK. I speak four languages. I have an older sister named Gemma, and I miss her a lot. I never knew what I wanted to do. I like to cook; I like to sing. I love to take pictures, so I could’ve been a chef or a photographer or a singer. There were endless possibilities, but I didn’t jump at any one of them, unfortunately. But I have also traveled well over the last _few_ years.”

“Where was the last place you went?”

“Rio,” Harry answered. “I saw Christ the Redeemer, and it was just breathtaking.”

“Never been there, actually. I’ll have to check it out.”

“Yeah, maybe next time we go to South America, we can go over there.”

Louis sat silently for a moment, like he was considering something. He finally said, “So you’re in this, then? For the long haul?”

“I think so. We’ll see how I feel in a few days, won’t we?”

Louis nodded. “Guess so.”

He looked down at his watch and added, “Look, we have three more hours on this flight. I’d like to get some sleep, if you don’t mind? We can talk more at the house.”

“Wait, you have a house? I thought we would be staying at a hotel.”

Louis snorted. “No. We don’t do hotels. I mean, the Cologne house is smaller than the one in Berlin, but yes, we have a house.”

 

**Cologne, Germany**

**July 30, 2006**

 

The sight of the 'small Cologne house' took Harry’s breath away.

They had taken a private car from the airport, and when Harry stepped out, he did so with a dropped jaw.

It was _gorgeous._ It was a two-story, brick house with floor-to-ceiling glass windows and doors. There were flowers lining the sidewalk leading up to the first step of the wraparound porch. Next to the house was a standalone garage that looked like it probably housed four cars.

Harry craned his neck a little and saw that there was a backyard, as well. He would have to check it out later.

He grabbed his bag from the trunk of the car and followed the other boys up to the door.

Liam pulled out a key ring, and sorted through the keys he had until he found a specific one. He slid it in the lock and pushed the door open.

They stood in a small foyer with a staircase just off to the right and an archway in front of them. On the left was another archway that led to a large living room, with a flat screen television, black sofas and a fireplace.

“I’ll show you where to put your stuff,” Niall said, breaking into Harry’s thoughts. Louis and Liam had already started going up the stairs, so Harry had no choice but to follow.

When he got to the top of the landing, Niall began pointing.

“That’s my room,” he said, aiming his finger at the first door to their left. It was still closed, so Harry didn’t know what it looked like. “Then the one next to it is Louis’ room. He doesn’t particularly like people in it, so you’ve been warned.”

Harry nodded, unsurprised at Louis’ feelings on sharing space.

“Right in front of us is Liam’s room. He got the master since he actually bought this place. So he has his own bathroom and everything.”

“So you guys can just, buy whatever you want, pretty much?”

Niall shrugged. “Basically. I mean, when you’ve been around for more than a hundred years, you get pretty smart with investing money. You know Apple? The company with the big, expensive computers? Well they’re coming out with a new, touchscreen phone. It’s gonna be called the iPhone. I already put so much money behind it. I think it’ll be huge.”

Harry shook his head. “Nah. I like my Sidekick. I like buttons and things.”

“Suit yourself. Anyway, next to Liam is the bathroom. There’s another one downstairs, by the way. I’ll show you later.”

“Thanks.”

“And this one can be your room now.”

Niall led Harry to the final room and pushed the door open.

It had hardwood floors and a pale green color on the walls. There was a queen-sized bed on the right side of the room, with cream-colored sheets and a dark green comforter.

It had a large window that looked out over the backyard Harry had wanted to check out. On the left was a dresser, and next to it was a door that Harry assumed led to a closet.

“This is great,” Harry said.

Niall beamed. “Awesome. I’ll leave you to it. Don’t know if you feel like unpacking since we’re only here for two nights, but definitely explore the house a bit.”

“I will. Thanks, man.”

Niall walked out of the room, leaving Harry alone.

He dropped his bag on the bed and looked out the window.

The yard below had a lot of green grass. He wondered if the boys had maintenance people here year-round to keep it trimmed.

Since he wasn’t unpacking just yet, Harry went back downstairs, wanting to go sit outside for a bit.

He went through the archway behind the steps and found himself in the kitchen, which had tan tile floors, off-white walls and dark cabinetry with brown granite counter tops. There was a large bay window, with a dark wooden table and four chairs surrounding it right in front. And to the left of the window was a sliding glass door.

He unlocked it and stepped outside, finding himself on a large deck. He leaned against the railing on the edge of the deck and took a deep breath.

He’d never been to Germany, but he’d heard a lot about its countryside. And it certainly didn’t disappoint.

Right in front of him, he had a spectacular view of the city of [Cologne](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:K%C3%B6ln_Skyline_an_einem_regnerischem_Tag_2009.jpg#/media/File:K%C3%B6ln_Skyline_an_einem_regnerischem_Tag_2009.jpg). It was a bit cloudy at the moment, but he could still make out all of the skyscrapers and what he believed was the airport.

He could only imagine what it looked like on a sunny day.

_“Hände hoch! Da wo ich sie sehen kann!”_

Harry froze as an angry female started yelling at him in German.

He didn’t understand the language, so he didn’t know what she was telling him to do.

Then he heard the sound of a gun cocking, and his eyes widened.

“What are you, deaf? Or just stupid? Put your hands in the air!”

Now _that_ he understood.

He slowly raised them up and heard the woman approach him.

“You’re trespassing on private property. Now what’s your name and what are you doing here?”

“Um, I’m Harry Styles, and I’m with Louis, Liam and Niall.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, right. The boys don’t travel with anyone; they never have. Try again.”

“No, I promise. You can ask them.” He turned his head to look at her over his shoulder.

That was the wrong move.

“Don’t fucking look at me!” she shouted, pointing the gun directly at his face. “Turn around!”

Harry was afraid to breathe, and beyond yelling for the boys, he wasn’t sure what to do next.

“Perrie, calm down. He’s with us.”

Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he heard Liam’s voice.

“He is?” Perrie asked, not quite believing him.

“Yup. Didn’t we tell you we picked up a fourth?” Louis wondered, his voice sounding out as well.

“No, you didn’t. Put your hands down, kid.”

Harry did as instructed and turned around, watching as Perrie holstered her gun. He could finally see what she looked like, too. She had long, wavy blonde hair and bright blue eyes that were lightly made up with eyeliner and mascara.

“You definitely didn’t tell me you got one who scares easy, either.”

Harry attempted to defend himself. “Look, it’s the third time in like, four days that I’ve had a gun shoved in my face. You’d be scared, too.”

“Aren’t you immortal?” Perrie asked with a hint of sarcasm.

“Yeah. But… bullets still hurt. I think so, anyway. I’ve never been shot before.”

“Uh-huh. Well it’s nice to meet you, Harry. Glad to see you boys, too.”

Louis smiled. “You, too, Pez.”

“Oh, shit,” she realized. “I dropped the stuff I had for you when I saw this guy out here.”

“I’ll get it,” Liam offered. He walked off the deck over to a manila folder with a string tied tightly around it. Only a few of the papers inside had been blown away by the wind, so Liam was able to collect everything quickly.

He brought it back and handed it to Perrie.

“OK, so in here is everything I already told you over the phone,” she started saying. “Only, there are pictures in here, as well, of who to look for. The trains leave tomorrow morning. If they have the bombs on them, call me when they’re diffused and I’ll send out teams to get the bombs and arrest the men. If they don’t have bombs, still call me so I can close the case.”

They all nodded, and Perrie gave the folder to Louis. “Good luck, boys. Not that you’ll need it.”

“Can you stay for a bit?” Niall asked. “We haven’t seen you in a while.”

Perrie shook her head. “Can’t. I’m sorry. Leigh needs me back at the office. We have another assignment we’re hard at work on, and it needs a lot of attention.”

“Anything we can help with?”

“No, we can handle this one just fine. Come on, now. Leave something for us mortals to do.”

The boys laughed before Liam, Niall and Louis each gave her a hug.

“We’ll see you next time, Pez,” Louis said.

“Until next time. Oh, and sorry for pointing my gun at you, Harry. I promise not to next time you’re out here.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Bye, boys. Call me tomorrow.”

She waved and walked around the side of the house, probably to her car.

“Now can I know the assignment?” Harry asked.

“Oh, right!” Louis remembered he still hadn’t told Harry anything. “Come on. Let’s go sit.”

The four of them walked inside and sat around the kitchen table.

“OK, so here’s the deal,” Louis started. It was purely for Harry’s benefit, as Niall and Liam already knew what was going on as well as the plan. “There is a small terrorist group recently established near Bonn. The reason we’re here is because one of its members has been looking up bombs and how to make them. And three days ago, a few other members bought train tickets for tomorrow morning departing from Köln Hauptbahnhof, the main Cologne train station. The tickets are marked for Dortmund and Koblenz, which, if you don’t know your German geography, means that one train is headed north and the other is headed south.”

“Shit,” Harry said, understanding the problem.

“Exactly,” Louis agreed. “So as much as I hate to say it, we’ll need to separate for this plan. Harry, you’ll go with Liam on one train, because if that bomb goes off, we’ll need someone to jump on it without being blown to bits. Plus, based on your ability to fight, he’ll be your main source of defense.”

“I know how to fight,” Harry protested.

“Against one person. If there’s more than one, you’re screwed.”

Harry didn’t say anything else after that. Louis was right. His ability wasn’t physical like Liam’s; it was mental. And while Louis and Niall’s were mental as well, theirs were strong, and Harry’s was weak. He didn’t know how to fight or defend himself from more than one person at a time. Without the other boys there, Harry was basically a sitting duck.

“Niall and I will be on the other one, because Niall fully knows how to diffuse bombs and I’ll be there to back him up.”

“Yes!” Niall cheered. “Finally get to use my skills. I didn’t take that class for nothing.”

“There are classes on how to diffuse bombs?” Harry asked.

Niall winked, but didn’t say anything else.

“We’ll take a Liam with us, too, just in case things get dicey,” Louis decided.

“Do we know what the guy looks like?” Harry wondered.

“Oh! Right. We have pictures now.” He reached into the file and pulled out a picture. After reading the name on the bottom left corner, he said, “This is Youssef Mohamad el Hajdib, the one who looks like he’s in charge of this operation.”

“He looks like a kid,” Liam noticed. The man looked like any other person he might see on the streets: black hair, tan skin, a long nose, brown eyes and thick eyebrows.

“Yeah, well. He’s only 21, so…”

They all seemed to realize it at the same time.

“You don’t think he’s… like us? Do you?” Niall asked.

“It’s possible,” Liam answered.

“Guess we’ll find out tomorrow, won’t we?” Louis pulled out another picture and added, “This is the other one we need to look out for. Jihad Hamad. He’s only twenty; so he’s not like us, _but_ he’s been the sidekick for most of the operation.”

Liam nodded. “So, one will have one bomb on one train, and the other will have another bomb on the other?”

“Looks like it,” Louis answered. “Of course, that’s if they even have bombs. Remember, this could turn into a wash. They might not have anything on them.”

“But they probably will,” Harry assumed.

“They probably will.”

“What time do we leave tomorrow?”

“Tickets are marked for ten in the morning, so we should be there no later than nine. From past experience, that station can get very packed, very quickly, so if we can intercept the men before they even get on the trains, that would be better.”

“And if we don’t?” Harry asked.

“Then bring your camera, because you’ll be getting a tour of Germany.”

 

**July 31, 2006**

 

Harry hadn’t known Louis for very long, but he already knew exactly how to tell when Louis was frustrated.

First, Louis would get a stern look in his eyes and his jaw would clench. Then, Louis would get fidgety, looking around every few seconds. His fingers would twitch and he would keep playing with the hair at the back of his neck. Finally, he would keep licking his lips and swearing with every sentence.

Harry knew this routine because it was exactly what happened in the last fifty minutes.

“Fuck,” Louis whispered again.

The four of them had been sweeping the train station since nine o’clock sharp and had still not found either of the men they were supposed to be looking for.

It had just been announced that the trains could begin boarding, so if they didn’t find Youssef now they would have to get on the trains to find him, his accomplice or the suspected bombs.

“Everyone have their train tickets?” Liam asked, realizing what was going to happen.

Of course they did. Louis had insisted that they triple check their pockets before they left the house this morning.

“You better,” Louis muttered. “OK, so here’s the deal. We get on these trains, find Youssef, Jihad or anybody else who might be linked to this operation and settle the problem as soon as possible. Call Perrie when it’s done. Any questions?”

Liam, Niall and Harry shook their heads.

“Good. After the problem is taken care of, we’ll return here tonight in time to have dinner at the house. Liam, if you will?”

Liam blinked, and seconds later, a copy of him came sauntering over to them from wherever he had appeared.

“OK, then. Keep your phones on, stay discreet and stay alert. See you in a few hours.”

Without another word, Louis, Niall and the Liam clone headed for the Dortmund train, and Harry and the real Liam went to the Koblenz train.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Niall mumbled to Louis as they walked away.

Louis glanced over his shoulder to see Liam and Harry boarding their train.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Me, too.”

\---

It took only fifty-three minutes to go to Koblenz from Cologne by train, and Liam and Harry spent just over half of that time looking for their suspects.

They patrolled the crowded train, keeping their eyes open for one of the men whose photographs were in Perrie’s folder, and it was starting to seem hopeless.

“Maybe they didn’t get on this train,” Harry said. “Or they missed it.”

“You really think they _missed_ the train?”

“It would explain why they’re not on here, _and_ why we didn’t see them at the station. Look, I’m just saying, we’ve been on this train for twenty minutes already and so far, nothing or nobody seems suspicious.”

“Well, we have to keep looking,” Liam insisted. “We started at the front and worked our way back. Now we have to start back here and work our way to the front. It’s that simple. We need to look harder.”

Harry simply nodded, not wanting to stray away from another plan. He’d learned his lesson in New York.

They made their way back up toward the front of the train. When they reached the halfway point, they stepped aside so a tall man carrying a black bag over his shoulder could move by them.

Harry and Liam froze, making eye contact as the man continued walking. It was Youssef.

They ducked into an empty compartment, and Liam peeked his head out. Focusing in on Youssef, he stuck out a finger and flicked it to the side.

The bag on Youssef’s shoulder slightly wavered, but stayed put. Youssef stopped walking, and before he could turn fully around to see who was behind him, Liam had pulled his head back inside.

“We have a problem,” Liam whispered to Harry. “He _is_ like us.”

Harry’s eyes widened. “So what now?”

“Now, we find him and I fight him. If he’s alone, we should still be able to take care of the bomb without a problem.”

“And if he’s not?”

Liam hesitated before answering, “Just be careful.”

The two of them left the compartment, keeping their eyes open even more now that they knew Youssef was definitely on the train.

They were in the last train car when they finally found him again. He was sitting in an empty [compartment](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Bs-car-compartment.jpg) with the bag in his lap. He looked up as Liam and Harry passed by and the three of them acknowledged each other with a simple nod.

They moved so they were a few compartments down from Youssef’s. “OK, so this should be fun,” Liam joked.

“What’s your definition of fun?”

Liam chuckled. “Look… We’ll go in there, exchange some words and get the bag from him. I’m anticipating a fight, to be honest. Between him and me, not you.”

He added on the last part when he saw the nervous look on Harry’s face.

“Oh. OK.”

“Yeah,” Liam said. “We’ll be fine.”

At that moment, someone came out of the compartment behind them. He gave them a suspicious look, but kept moving, walking to the next car.

Liam and Harry waited until he was gone before making a move.

“Do your thing,” Harry said.

Liam smiled and shut his eyes. He tapped into the minds of everyone in the last two cars and planted the thought that anything they might hear was a figment of their imaginations, protecting them from having anybody leave their compartment if they heard Liam, Harry and Youssef fighting.

“Let’s go.”

Liam went back to Youssef’s compartment and slid the door open.

“ _Hallo_ _, Youssef,_ ” Liam greeted in fluent German.

The man briefly stared at Liam and Harry before turning his attention back to the window.

Liam rolled his eyes. He knew Youssef understood what he was saying; they spoke the same language. Why couldn’t they ever make this easy?

“ _Komm schon. Ich weiß dass du Deutsch sprichst, also weiß ich auch dass du mich verstehst._ ”

“ _Natürlich verstehe ich dich. Aber meine Mutter hat mir immer gesagt, dass ich nicht mit Fremden reden soll._ ”

“Oh, good; you’re a sassy one,” Liam said as Youssef replied that he knew what Liam was saying, but his mother told him not to talk to strangers. “Louis would love you.”

Harry nudged Liam, wanting to know what Youssef had said, but Liam just shook his head and asked Youssef for the black bag he was holding onto.

“ _Youssef,_ _gib mir die Tasche. Jetzt._ ”

Youssef slowly turned his head and smirked at Liam. “ _Oder was_ _?_ ”

Harry didn’t need to speak German to know that Youssef had just said ‘Or what?’ It was evident in his tone and the screwed up look on his face.

Harry told himself not to move back when Youssef rose to his feet.

Liam on the other hand, took a step forward. He repeated his request and said that no one would get hurt if he did. “ _Gib mir die Tasche und niemand wird verletzt._ ”

Youssef chuckled. “ _Oh, ich bin mir sicher, dass niemand von uns heute verletzt wird. Du und ich, wir sind gleich. Du warst es, der vorhin versucht hat mir die Tasche wegzunehmen, nicht wahr_ _?_ ”

“ _Ja_ _._ ” Liam nodded, confirming Youssef’s thought that the three of them were the same, and that he was the one who tried to take the bag from Youssef just minutes ago.

Youssef looked out toward the hallway and smiled. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a kind smile of recognition, but rather, one signifying an evil idea.

He quickly threw the bag past all of them into the hallway before aiming a punch at Harry.

He was able to duck before it made contact and Liam took the chance to wrestle Youssef to the ground.

As Harry straightened up, he saw Youssef flip them over so that he was on top.

Harry didn’t know if he should help Liam or grab the bag, but Liam decided for him.

“Harry, get the bag!” Liam yelled as he kicked Youssef off him.

Harry hurried to the hallway, but as he picked up the bag, someone ran by and snatched it from his hands.

“Hey!” Harry started to run after the man he assumed was Jihad, the sidekick, but then he remembered what happened the last time he ran after someone without consideration.

“Harry, get it!” Liam shouted again. “I’ve got this!”

He threw a punch at Youssef, sending him down to the floor.

Realizing that Liam had the situation under control, Harry sprinted after the other man.

He reached the back part of the train, which was a large, empty, open space and found the man messing with something inside of the bag.

“What are you doing?” Harry demanded.

The man looked up, and Harry saw that it wasn’t Jihad, like he thought it was. It was the man who’d come out of the compartment near Youssef’s, meaning there was at least a third person in on this operation.

“Shit.”

The man dropped the bag and started running back the way he came. Harry picked it up and looked inside, only to see a timer counting down. It had less than five minutes to go.

“What did you do?” Harry yelled, starting to chase after the unknown man.

He took two steps before the man was sent soaring back toward Harry. He moved to the side to avoid getting knocked down by the flying body, and Liam came running in toward the accomplice.

From the lack of a birthmark on his neck, Harry assumed the real Liam was still struggling with Youssef. Harry went to look at the bag.

Inside was a metal canister that likely contained gas, an alarm clock and soft drink bottles that were probably highly flammable. Linking it all together were about a dozen different wires and different sized batteries.

Harry didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to pull at any of the wires in case it broke a hole inside of the bottle and it leaked. He didn’t know how to turn off the clock, because there weren’t any buttons still on it.

As he examined his options, a heavy body crashed into him, knocking him to the floor.

It was Youssef’s partner-in-crime, and he was aiming a punch straight at Harry’s face. Harry rolled away and jumped to his feet, but the man quickly grabbed Harry and pulled him into a headlock.

Harry struggled to break free, and saw the Liam copy, who had been trying to get to his feet, watching the scene take place.

Harry understood his dilemma: he couldn’t do anything to the man without potentially hurting Harry, as well. So Harry did the only thing he could think of.

He grunted and started quickly running backward, crashing both of them against the wall behind them. He shook the man’s arm from around his neck and landed a kick to his stomach before Liam took over again.

He turned around and saw the real Liam dealing with the bomb, but he also saw Youssef rushing toward him from behind.

Without thinking, he charged at Youssef and knocked him slightly backward. But Youssef, who was a few inches taller than Harry and probably had him by another twenty pounds, ran back at him.

Harry braced himself, and right when Youssef had his arms stretched out, as if to grab onto Harry and knock him down, Harry dropped down and stuck his leg out, tripping Youssef and sending only him to the ground.

Another Liam copy appeared, and the real Liam ran off with the black case.

“Cover me!” he shouted.

Harry heard the conductor announce something over the speakers, and judging by the feeling of the train slowing down, he suspected it meant that the train was about to arrive in Koblenz.

He turned around and saw one Liam copy on each Youssef and the other man, but Youssef was about to break away.

So Harry ran at him and jumped on his back, getting a tight grip around his neck.

Liam kicked Youssef, and it only slightly stopped him from trying to buck Harry off his back. Harry leaned backward as far as he could without letting go, and it brought both of them down to the ground.

Harry felt the wind knocked out of him, but Liam took the advantage and raised his foot to stomp down on Youssef’s nose.

Unfortunately, Youssef was quicker. He swept his leg under Liam’s single one on the ground and knocked Liam off his feet. He hit the floor with a sickening ‘thud’ before slowly fading away. Youssef elbowed Harry in the stomach and got up, running away.

The other Liam was busy fighting Youssef’s other partner, so he couldn’t help as Harry watched Youssef ran away.

“Fuck,” Harry muttered as he struggled to get up.

When he finally did, he saw that Liam now had his fight under control. He was sitting on the floor, trying to catch his breath, with Youssef’s partner lying still on the ground.

A week ago, Harry would’ve wondered if he was dead. Right now, he didn’t really care.

He turned and saw that Youssef had already entered the next car, and would be off the train – which had nearly stopped – before Harry could even start running.

As the train pulled into the station, he started looking for the real Liam, and found him in the compartment where it had all began.

“Li-” he started to say, but he was interrupted when Liam rose from the kneeling position he was just in, slid the door to the compartment shut and locked it.

“What are you doing?” Harry quickly asked.

“Get away from here,” Liam insisted, his voice slightly muffled.

Harry grabbed at the door and tried to pull it open, but it wasn’t working.

“Liam, what’s going on? Where’s the bag?”

Liam leaned back down and showed Harry the clock in the bag, which only had about twenty seconds left on it.

Harry was still confused, but not for much longer.

Liam zipped the bag up and held it closely to his chest before getting back into a squatting position. He ducked his head, curling his body around the bag almost into the fetal position, just like he was going to-

And then it hit him. Harry understood exactly what Liam was going to do.

“Liam!” Harry shouted, pounding on the door.

But Liam didn’t budge. He stayed absolutely still, despite Harry’s knocking on the door and pulling on the handle.

“Liam! Stop! Come on! Get out of there!”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Liam copy rise to his feet, watching in concern.

“Liam!”

It went in slow motion. Harry could see the exact moment when that bomb was supposed to go off: Liam’s form tensed immensely and his head twitched to the side. Liam’s stance wavered as his ankles rolled toward the outside, but then balanced him again.

But nothing happened.

Harry stood watching at the compartment door waiting for something, for the bomb to blow a hole in the bottom of the train or even for Liam to get blown to bits.

But _nothing_ happened.

“Liam!” Harry called cautiously.

At the sound of his name, Liam turned around to look at Harry, confusion clearly written on his face.

“What the fuck?” Liam yelled. He unlocked the compartment door and Harry rushed inside.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know.” Liam unzipped the bag and looked inside, seeing the clock had hit zero. But it didn’t explode.

They waited a few minutes, just in case anything else happened, but it looked like the bomb wouldn’t be doing anything.

“We need to get off this train,” Liam decided. He closed the bag again and left it on the seat before calling Perrie.

“It didn’t go off,” he said over the phone. “Yeah, it was a dud. I’m leaving the bag in a compartment at the back of the train in Koblenz.”

He paused while Perrie said something to him.

“Yeah, we’ll stay at the train station if you need us to.”

He waited another moment.

“Perfect. Talk to you soon.”

He hung up the phone and looked to Harry, who looked ready to get as far away from this train as possible.

“Come on, kid. Let’s go.”

* * *

* * *

As they prepared to leave, they heard a grunt from outside the compartment.

They both tried to check on it, but as they did, Youssef’s partner ran by and knocked Harry down. He fell into Liam, and both of them hit the floor.

“Fuck,” Harry muttered again. They got up and checked on the Liam copy, only to find him kneeling on the ground with a knife in his chest.

He looked up at Harry and the real Liam with a pained look on his face before slowly fading away. The knife hit the ground with a clang.

“Grab that and let’s go,” Liam said before walking away toward the nearest exit.

Harry did as he was told and quickly followed behind.

* * *

* * *

\---

“Yeah, it was a faulty bomb,” Niall told Liam over the phone. “Idiot didn’t make it right.”

“Yeah, no shit. I figured that out when nothing happened when the clock struck zero.”

“Hey, I’m just letting you know, that officially, the thing was no good.”

Liam rolled his eyes. He and Harry were at the station in Koblenz, watching the scene in front of them unfold.

Perrie’s teams worked fast; police had already swarmed the place, finding the bomb in the compartment, like Liam said, and were now searching the rest of the train just in case.

“How’s it look over there?” Niall asked.

“Fine,” Liam answered. “Police everywhere and a lot of bystanders just trying to figure out what happened. You?”

“Pretty much the same. Police just arrived and are shoving their way through the crowd of people getting off the train. I left the bag near the front, so they should find it in a few seconds.”

“Good. What happened to your guys? Ours got away.”

“You let them get away? Amateurs.”

“Fuck you,” Liam said. “Look, you’ll be proud of Harry. The kid held his own. They just had some elements of surprise on their side.”

“Good for him.”

“You still never answered my question.”

“Oh, right,” Niall remembered. “Yeah, they never even got on the train.”

“What?”

“Nope. We found the bag unattended in an empty compartment. Louis swept the train twice while I tried to shut the bomb down. Not like I needed to, but you know what I mean.”

Liam sighed. “Yeah, I do. Glad to hear everything is all taken care of.”

“Same here.”

“We’ll stick around for a little bit until the situation dies down. We’ll see you in Cologne tonight?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Niall agreed. “We’ll do the same.”

“Good. Tell Tommo he’s cooking dinner tonight.”

There was silence on the other end of the line, until Niall came back and said, “Hey Liam?”

“Yeah?”

“He told you to fuck off.”

Liam laughed. “That’s about right. See you in a few hours.”

“Later.”

Liam hung up the phone and slid it into his pocket.

He glanced over at Harry, who was leaning against the wall behind them with his head down.

“What’s wrong, kid?”

Harry shook his head. “Nothing.”

Liam chuckled. “Let me put it to you this way. You are almost, if not more than, easier to read than Louis. And I’ve known him for more than a century.”

Harry took a deep breath before asking, “Will you teach me how to fight?”

Liam raised an eyebrow. “It’s not every day someone catches me off guard, kid, but you just did.”

“I’m serious.”

“I know you are. I can see it in your face.”

Harry stared at Liam until he gave him an answer.

“But sure. I like boxing, so we can try that.”

“When?” Harry wanted to know.

“We can start tonight if you want.”

“Thanks.”

“Can I ask what brought this on?”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t want to be the weakest link.”

Liam nodded once and returned his attention to the scene in front of them.

\---

“Jab. Jab. Cross. Stop. Watch your feet.”

Harry looked down to see that his right leg was getting too far back with each punch he threw. He brought it in closer to his left and returned his arms to the boxing stance that Liam had taught him.

The two of them were in the backyard of the Cologne house. Harry had been serious about Liam teaching him to fight, so once they returned from the train station, they’d started training.

“Make sure that when you jab, you don’t lean forward too far,” Liam instructed. “If you do, your balance could be thrown off. I could easily just grab your arm and pull you down to the ground, giving me the advantage.”

He showed Harry the proper way to jab again, and said, “It should be like that.”

Harry nodded and returned to the correct stance before throwing another jab.

“Good. Cross.”

Harry threw his right hand forward, concentrating on keeping his hips square and pivoting his back foot.

“Good. You’re a fast learner.”

“Thanks,” Harry said.

They practiced for a little while longer before Liam said they could take a break.

Each of them grabbed a water bottle sitting on the patio table, sat down in a chair and took long drinks.

“What’s on your mind, Harry?” Liam asked after a minute.

“Nothing.”

Liam rolled his eyes. “Remember what I told you earlier? About being easy to read?”

“Fine. Um, I was actually wondering something.”

Liam hummed. “What’s that?”

“Why do you do it?” Harry asked. “Why do you guys constantly take on these assignments and go all over the world looking for danger?”

Liam thought over the question for a moment before he answered. “Well, it’s not like we’re exactly putting our lives on the line, is it?”

Harry laughed. “Yeah. I guess you’ve got a point there.”

“I mean, take Perrie for example. We’ve been working with her for about six years now, and she’s amazing at her job. She was born to hunt down the criminals and bring them to justice. She’s great at surveillance and stakeouts and can really use her head in a tight situation. She’s observant and intelligent and makes connections in the clues we have faster than anybody I’ve ever known.”

“But…?” Harry wondered.

Liam sighed. “But… The problem is, if she gets stuck in a situation where there are too many guns turned against her or she can’t dismantle a bomb fast enough-”

“It could turn ugly.”

“It could turn _deadly_ ,” Liam corrected. “The bomb goes off or guns start firing or knives get hurled through the air and bam. No more Perrie, no more of her team and no more of anyone caught in the crossfire. We say goodbye to someone who’s so insanely skilled at her job all because she’s mortal. So, that’s one reason why we do this: to reduce casualties and to attempt to keep the strong people alive. We want to prevent deaths of people like Perrie, as well as innocent bystanders. For example, what if Perrie was the one who was on that train? And she found the bomb in time, but couldn’t detonate it? Then what?”

“Well, nothing. The bomb was faulty.”

“And if it wasn’t?”

Harry thought about it. “Well… The bomb would’ve gone off and Perrie would’ve been killed.”

“And anybody else in the bomb’s reach would’ve died, too. The train could’ve also derailed, and other people could’ve been wounded or killed as a result. But, if I found the bomb, and it went off and I couldn’t dismantle it-”

“You would still be alive,” Harry finished.

“Exactly. My eyebrows might be singed off, but I would still be here because I’m the indestructible one.”

“That makes sense.”

“Another reason why we do this is to keep everything discreet. If we go in and save people, I can wipe everyone’s memories of the incident and no news gets out about it. But if Perrie were to go after them? It would be all over the papers and on everyone’s television. It would build. I mean, think about it. We save the world… What? Fifty times a year? Give or take. Could you imagine how much more paranoid the world would be if they knew how often they avoided certain death in their own backyard? It would be chaos.”

“People would have guns ‘just in case,’” Harry said.

“And at least half of those people wouldn’t know how to properly use or care for them, either. Gun deaths would likely be on the rise, which, I suppose brings me to my next point: On top of everything I’ve already said, we want to prevent the domino effect. Or maybe the butterfly effect, too.”

“What do you mean?” Harry wondered.

“Well, it’s simple, really. Let’s say we weren’t around, meaning Perrie had to get on that train. And let’s say she didn’t stop the bomb, and it actually did go off. People die, it makes top news and Youssef gets his name in all of the papers for the next week. Then we get the dreaded copycat, someone else who wants his time on television; and he bombs another train station somewhere else or a bus station or even worse, an airport. More people get hurt or killed and it just grows. That’s the domino effect.”

“And the butterfly effect?”

“Well, we’re not around and a lot more crimes are on television. People start getting more paranoid and, like you said, buy more guns. One day, some guy shoots at a noise he hears outside his house, and the noise turns out to be his neighbor just taking out the trash. However, that neighbor is a med student. And in that student’s mind is the cure for cancer. But now that student is dead, and so the cure is never discovered and cancer continues to infect people all over the world. And all because some man bought a gun because whenever he turns on the news, he only ever hears about presidents being assassinated, bombs exploding on trains and banks being robbed. Butterfly effect.”

Harry nodded, taking a deep breath. “Shit.”

“Yeah. Pretty much.”

The two of them sat there for a while, admiring the view in front of them.

“I guess there’s one more thing I could add to my argument,” Liam finally whispered.

“Oh, no…”

“No, it’s a good thing, I suppose. Can I give you a quick history lesson?”

“Sure.”

“I’m Liam James Payne. I was born August 29, 1863 in Philadelphia. I had a set of wonderful parents, and two awesome older sisters. On my twenty-first birthday, I went out with some friends, and when I returned home, my house was on fire. My family was inside and I got to watch as they and everything I had burned while firefighters tried to extinguish the flames.”

“Oh, my God,” Harry whispered. “Liam, I’m so sorry.”

Liam just shrugged a shoulder. “It’s all right. It was more than a century ago. It doesn’t hurt as much. Anyway, my friends were pretty useless, so I started traveling. Went all over the country; anywhere a train could go, I did. And after eighteen years, it got really old. I could never settle anywhere because I didn’t want anyone to know what I was. I didn’t have much money to my name; I worked odd jobs in little restaurants and factories and picked pockets to save up money for my next train ticket. It was on my thirty-ninth birthday that I met Louis – ironically because I was trying to steal his wallet – and then sixteen years later we found Niall. But after years of thinking about this, I can now confidently say that even if I didn’t meet them, I would still be doing something like this.”

“You would?”

“Absolutely. You can only travel the world so many times before you get bored, Harry. There is a limit to how many years you can see the same countries, hear the same languages and meet new people that remind you of someone you talked to a decade prior. I enjoy this life, and it’s only made better by the fact that I have two – now three – other people who want to be doing this, too.”

“And what does Sophia think of it all?”

Liam looked confused. “What?”

“Sophia? What’s going on with you two?”

“What do you mean?” Liam asked quickly. “What- What are you talking about? Did Louis say something? Does Louis _know_?”

“Hey, hey, calm down. No, Louis doesn’t know,” Harry said.

“Oh. OK.”

“No, Louis doesn’t know. Um, when we were leaving the police station in New York, I turned around and kind of saw you guys, um, blowing kisses at each other? Thought there might be something there.”

“Oh, shit. We’ll have to be more careful, then.”

“Why can’t Louis know that you’re with someone? He’s your friend; wouldn’t he be happy for you?”

Liam shrugged again. “I don’t know. But it’s against the rules. Remember? No getting attached?”

“Yeah, but… Never getting attached to anyone? Seems rather bleak, doesn’t it?”

Liam stared at Harry, pursing his lips as if he was deciding on something important. Finally, he just came right out with it.

“I was married before. Did you know that?”

“You were _married_?”

“Well don’t sound so surprised,” Liam huffed. “Women actually do find me attractive, you know.”

“No, no, no, it’s not that. It’s just… The rules-”

“-Were created after that. I, uh, messed up.”

Harry sat silently, waiting for Liam to tell Harry his story. “Her name was Danielle, and I met her in Italy in 1962. She stayed there while I went all over the world on my assignments but I always came back to her. I proposed four years later, and she said yes. Fast forward eleven months, when she was killed in a car accident just three days after our wedding.”

Harry felt a chill go up his spine at Liam’s words. “Liam…”

“So I ran off without a word. Louis and Niall just woke up to find my bed empty with no idea where I was. They went back to Chicago, which was our home base at the time, where I finally returned two months later. After that, we put the rules into effect because all three of us never wanted something like that to happen again.”

“So you see getting into a relationship as, what? A sign of disrespect?”

“Yes,” Liam answered easily. “I do. It’s because of me that we even have those rules so to blatantly break them, is… Yeah. Disrespectful. Selfish. Insensitive.”

“But you’re almost a hundred and forty-three! You can decide what to do with your own heart.”

“Not like this. When Danielle passed, I- I lost it. I screamed at Louis and Niall and Danielle’s family because I was just so angry. I told them that they didn’t miss her like I did and that they would never understand. And then I left the next day. Clearly I don’t make the best decisions when my emotions are involved.”

“But Liam-”

“But nothing, Harry! Drop it! What did Niall talk to you about the other day? Learn your place, right?”

“How did you know that?” Harry asked.

“He told me. We tell each other everything.”

“Except for when you’re dating someone.”

Harry regretted it immediately, knowing he had crossed the line.

“Drop it,” Liam growled. He stood up from his seat and said, “I might not be able to use my ability on you, but I can still kick your ass if I want to.”

He walked away, going inside the house, and Harry had never been more annoyed with himself.

\---

That night, Harry lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Dinner had been awkward as hell after Louis and Niall returned home. If either of them noticed how Liam didn’t look at or speak to Harry all night, they didn’t comment on it.

Harry needed to stop screwing up. A job like this was for life, and Harry wasn’t going to last if he kept putting his foot in his mouth and pissing off the other men.

It was nearing midnight, and Harry knew he needed to get some sleep. They were flying home tomorrow and needed to be at the airport at nine o’clock.

He took a deep breath and rolled out of bed. He walked out of his room and over to Liam’s. He knocked on the door and waited for a response.

“Come in,” Liam sleepily called out.

Harry turned the knob and entered the dark room just as a bedside light was turned on.

“Hey,” Liam said, his voice rough with sleep.

“Did I wake you? I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. I was just dozing off, is all. What’s up?”

“I’m sorry for what I said earlier,” Harry quickly apologized. “I was out of line, again, and I need to just shut up. I’m still new to all of this and I’m still learning, but there was still no reason for me to question you, Louis or the rules that you have set in place to protect you guys. I’m sorry.”

Liam nodded slowly. “Yeah. I know you are. You still have a lot to learn, kid, and I get that you have questions about everything, but sometimes, you just don’t ask them.”

“I understand.”

“Harry, I like you. Don’t get me wrong; you’re a good guy. But you can’t be so impulsive. Reign in your curiosity and replace it with logic, with reasoning. You’ll be better at this job if you do that.”

Harry looked down at his hands, the fingers on which had been twisting together in front of him.

“Harry, I’m not mad; really. I just need you to understand that.”

“I do. I’m sorry I overstepped my boundaries.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Harry said. “I’ll uh, let you get back to sleep.”

“Thanks. See you for breakfast.”

Harry smiled and exited the room, pulling the door shut behind him.

When he did, he looked up to see Louis peeking his head out of his own room.

“Everything OK?” he asked quietly.

Harry glanced over his shoulder at Liam’s door. “Yeah. Everything’s good.”

 

**New York City**

**October 12, 2006**

 

Harry put his jacket on by the front door of Smithdale, zipping it up before leaving the building. Gemma had been very chatty that morning, getting excited over the first few leaves that had started falling from the trees. She’d also told him, in detail, all about her new, patterned bedspread.

Harry hadn’t had the heart to tell her that he knew all about the bedspread, because he’d been the one to buy it.

Harry walked out of the building and breathed in the fresh, fall air. They’d been off assignment for more than a week now, and surprisingly, Harry had started to feel… unsettled.

Since the stint in Germany, Harry had been on five more missions, including two that were back-to-back. In just two months, they had been to Canada, France, Spain, Australia and England, and Harry loved it.

Every time they boarded a plane to go somewhere new, Harry thought back to Louis’ words, ‘you never know where you’ll end up next.’ Because it was true: Harry had no idea what was coming their way after each assignment. He didn’t know if he would get a day off, a week off or no time at all.

It was a new kind of adventure and so far, Harry didn’t have any complaints… Except for the current break they were on. He was itching to get back out there to save the world. And even though he didn’t want someone in the world to try to fuck shit up, he kind of did.

He pulled the door shut behind him and started to go down the steps to get to the sidewalk.

Then he saw Louis waiting for him at the bottom.

“What are you doing here?” Harry asked.

Louis shrugged. “Just taking a walk.”

“You know, don’t you?”

“I know a little bit; not everything.”

“How much?” Harry wondered.

“You’re visiting your older sister Gemma and she has Alzheimer’s. She has lived here at Smithdale as long as you’ve called New York City ‘home.’ I’m guessing those charitable donations to the Alzheimer’s Foundation had something to do with her?”

Harry glanced down at his feet, then back up to Louis. He didn’t think an answer was necessary.

“Why didn’t you just tell us you were coming here?” Louis asked.

“Thought I’d get in trouble; it goes against the rules, doesn’t it? Don’t get attached?”

Louis inhaled deeply before letting out a slow, steady breath. “What are your plans for today?”

Harry looked at Louis cautiously. “I mean, I was planning on going back to the apartment and seeing what you had in store for us…”

“Well look, when I left, Liam was dead asleep and Niall had just started a game of FIFA, which, for him, could go on all day. We don’t have any assignments at the moment, so you can consider this a day off.” Louis smiled softly. “Can I show you something else instead? If you’re interested, of course.”

Harry nodded. “Lead the way.”

\---

Twenty minutes and a quiet cab ride later, Harry found himself in front of a playground.

He and Louis were standing across the street from it, and Louis subtly pointed out two young girls who couldn’t have been more than seven.

“The one wearing the red jacket is Jenna and the one in purple is Harper.”

Both girls had long, straight, blonde hair and were playing tag with a few other children around their age. Harry couldn’t tell much else about them from the distance, not that he felt comfortable looking too closely at them.

“Who are they?” Harry wondered.

“They’re my family.”

Harry glanced over at Louis in confusion. “They are?”

Louis nodded. “They’re my great-great-great-great grandnieces. My younger sister Daisy got married to a man named Jacob, they had a baby boy named James and a few generations later, here we are. They’re my closet living relatives, besides their mother, of course. Her name’s Rebecca, and she’s not here right now.”

“Why are you showing me this?”

Louis turned to look at Harry. “To show you that the rule, the one about not getting attached, is mainly just for show. I mean, you think I don’t know that Liam has been quietly dating Sophia for the last year and a half?”

“They have been?” Harry asked curiously, as if he didn’t already know that.

Louis just nodded again. “Yeah. Why do you think I suggested that we make New York our home base? And Niall… Well, Niall has people all over the world he spends time with.”

“And you? Who do you have?”

Louis chose to avoid the question. “Did you attend your mother’s funeral, Harry?”

Harry leaned back against the building they were standing in front of. “No; no, I didn’t. I was uh, in Rome at the time. I didn’t even know about it until after it happened.”

“Well I went to mine,” Louis said. “I went to my mother’s funeral and watched it from behind a tree, fifty feet away. I couldn’t risk anybody seeing me and having to explain what happened. So, on one of the worst days of my life, I stood alone and unable to share stories about my mother or seek condolences from anyone. Remember, I didn’t meet Liam until 1902. My mother passed in 1854.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. Wow. Listen Harry, I know I’m… _Death…_ but I still have feelings, you know. And you have no idea what I would give to talk to one of my sisters again, or my mom. They’ve all been gone for so long and now I’m just left with their descendants. The problem is, I don’t share memories with them. We didn’t grow up together. I don’t have inside jokes with them or feel any extreme overprotectiveness for them like I did with my sisters. I don’t share anything with them except for some distant DNA. But you have your sister, Harry, your own flesh and blood. Who would I be to condemn you for keeping in contact with her when, on any given day, I would switch situations with you in a heartbeat?”

Harry was left speechless. He honestly didn’t know how he was supposed to react to Louis’ confession.

So he followed his instincts. He wrapped his arms around Louis, pulling him into a tight hug.

“What are you doing?” Louis asked, his voice muffled by Harry’s shoulder.

“I’m giving you a hug, Louis,” Harry explained. “It’s OK. You’re allowed to like it.”

“I don’t like it. I don’t like this at all.”

“Come on, Louis. Relax a little bit.”

Harry could sense Louis’ reluctance, but after a moment, he could feel Louis’ body start to relax and slowly melt into the hug. Louis even moved his arms to surround Harry’s waist.

“See? This is nice, right?”

“I’ve lived through worse things.”

Harry laughed loudly and stepped back. At the very least, Louis didn’t look like he wanted to cry any more. So that was a good sign.

“I think it’s funny that you said you would want to switch places with me, when I would definitely want to switch with you,” Harry admitted easily.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’d definitely want your power.”

“See, that’s funny, because I would want Liam’s.”

“What?”

“Hell yeah. The ability to clone myself? I would absolutely want that. I mean, I’ve always believed the world could use more Louis, don’t you agree?”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m glad that sweet moment has passed.”

“Look, it went on for too long as it was.”

They started walking away, not wanting to raise suspicions of two grown men standing outside of a playground for too long.

As they turned the corner, Louis prompted, “So tell me about your sister.”

Harry immediately brightened again. “Gemma? She’s amazing. She’s a little more than three years older than I am, so she’ll be eighty soon. She’s always been very witty, quick on her feet. She’s very hard working and loyal and caring. She never had any children, but she always loved them. Her husband Michal died a while back, and it was a few years after that that the Alzheimer’s symptoms started.”

Louis nodded, listening closely. He could tell by Harry’s slowly hunching shoulders and clouding eyes that the last part was difficult for Harry to talk about.

“That’s when I found her. Or, she found me, I suppose,” Harry continued, his voice getting a touch quieter. “I was in New York maybe five years ago, sitting in Central Park, just people watching. The weather was beautiful, so I took advantage of the nice day. And she was walking by, and just staring at me. When I saw her face, I almost had a panic attack because I never thought I would see Gemma again. I mean, I ran away from home fifty years before that, and just, there she was: right in front of me. Anyway, she looked at me and said, ‘You look just like my brother, Harry. I haven’t seen him in a long time, but you’re the spitting image of him.”

“What did you do?” Louis asked.

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I should’ve just let her go on and saved myself the heartache.”

They passed an empty bench, and Louis indicated that they should sit down.

“Harry, what happened next?” Louis asked once they were comfortable.

“I lied to her. I said, ‘That’s my grandfather’s name. His name was Harry Styles and people tell me all the time that I look like him.’”

“So she thinks that…”

“That I’m my own grandson. Well, at first she did. She believed that I was Harry Styles, and I was named after my grandfather, who was her brother. And it was just crazy enough to make sense that we would meet in a city as big as New York.”

“So what does she believe now?” Louis wondered.

Harry took a deep breath and rubbed at his reddening eyes. “Well, at the time, I was still in my traveling phase, so I would visit her a lot. Every time I was in the States, I would stop by her house. But as time went on, she started remembering less. She started repeating herself a lot more and getting little details confused. She forgot her own address at one point and had to be escorted home by the police. And then…”

“And then?” Louis prompted when Harry didn’t continue.

Harry sniffled. “And then I came by to visit her one day. It was a little more than a year ago. I came to her house and she goes, ‘Harry, have you talked to Mom lately?’ And I told her, ‘No, Gem. I haven’t talked to Mom lately. What’s wrong?’ She tells me that my mom misses me because I haven’t been home in a while. And then she talked to me like the last fifty years hadn’t happened, like me leaving home was only temporary and that I had returned from wherever I was. It wasn’t her fault; she just- Louis, she didn’t remember.”

Harry’s voice cracked on the last word and he let out a shaky breath.

Louis took Harry’s hand in his and held it tightly, trying to show Harry support as best as he could.

“She just forgot… She forgot our dad dying; she forgot our mother getting remarried; she forgot our mom and stepdad passing away in a car accident. She even forgot when _she_ got married, and she was with Michal for more than forty years when he passed on. All of that time, those memories, just _gone_. So that was when I decided to move here, permanently, so I could be near her all the time. I put her in Smithdale and got an apartment nearby. And that was it.”

“Was your sister the reason you decided to start using your power?” Louis asked, making sure to keep his voice low.

Harry nodded. “Pretty much. I realized that I could use it to get money to pay for her care and hopefully, one day, find a cure for Alzheimer’s; or, at least, some treatment to prolong it or keep memories clear. Something. Anything.”

“I’m so sorry, Harry.”

The two of them sat silently for a minute.

“This life…” Harry started to say, a single tear falling down his face. “People think they want this life, to- to live forever, see everything, do everything… But they don’t. There are so many days when I wish I could just throw myself in front of a bus and end it. Join my mom up in heaven, see my dad and one day have Gemma join us. But that’s not possible. Instead I have to just sit and wait for Gemma to go, for my family tree to end as far as the world is concerned.”

“You can’t think of it that way, though,” Louis said, trying to console Harry. “You can’t. You’ll drive yourself crazy.”

“I already am crazy! All of us are! We chase danger on a regular basis. We put ourselves in harm’s way all the time. Nobody normal does that.”

“Who cares? Nothing about you or us is normal. For fuck’s sake, we’re _immortal_. We can’t die. That right there basically defies the laws of Earth, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yeah, but-”

“But nothing,” Louis said with a tone of finality. “We’re not normal, and that’s who we’re meant to be. We’re also meant to save people. That’s why we found each other, Harry. We’re supposed to be ‘not normal’ together.”

Harry sat quietly, just processing everything Louis had just said.

“And no offense, but your definition of normal sounds boring anyway,” Louis joked. “I mean, it’s way more fun to put yourself in harm’s way.”

Harry chuckled. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

“Come on; let’s go home. I want to kick Niall’s ass in FIFA a few times before dinner.”

Harry let out a loud laugh before the two of them rose to their feet. Before they could walk off, Harry wrapped his arms around Louis for another hug.

This time, he didn’t flinch away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bombs on the German trains really happened. Information can be found [here](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5263930.stm) and [here](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/22/world/europe/22germany.html?_r=0).
> 
> I used [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28PU_W71OxM) for the boxing lesson.


	3. Tijuana

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case you were wondering, this chapter has the beginning of the Louis/Harry romance, and also the smut!

**Mullingar, Ireland**

**June 17, 1918**

 

“So you’re saying we’re lost?”

“No, of course we’re not lost. We’re just not where we need to be.”

Louis rolled his eyes. Why did this always seem to happen? He and Liam had just left the inn where they were staying and were trying to find the pub that the owner had recommended to them.

And of course, they made a wrong turn somewhere and had wound up near some school. Before Louis could suggest turning back around, they heard a noise of someone that sounded in pain.

Louis and Liam started running toward the noise. They hurried around the small, single-story building in front of them, and found themselves in a small park.

There, down on his knees was a man who was no less than six feet tall, moaning in agony and clutching at his head like it was on fire. And right in front of him, was a blonde man with a menacing look in his eyes.

“And what about the time you told Cassidy McDonnell that I slept with rats? Huh?” the blonde asked.

He tilted his head a few inches to the side, and the man on the ground collapsed to his forearms.

He weakly extended one arm out, but quickly dropped it back to the ground to keep his balance before begging, “Niall, please. It was years ago.”

“I didn’t fucking forget, Fergus!” Niall yelled. “You think it’s funny to make fun of the orphan kid, huh? You fucking [amadan](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/amadan)!”

Niall turned his head some more, and Fergus got sick on the ground in front of him, throwing up everything he’d eaten that day.

Louis and Liam wrinkled their noses in disgust. “I didn’t need to see that,” Liam whispered.

Niall heard them anyway. He quickly looked up at them in surprise. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Uh, I’m Louis and this is Liam,” Louis answered, pointing between the two of them.

“Niall. That’s Fergus. Now bugger off, both of you.”

“A bit rude, don’t you think?” Louis asked.

“No. You want to end up like him?”

“I’d like to see you try.”

Niall raised an eyebrow and focused his eyes on Louis.

Louis just smiled and waited for the pain that would never come.

After a moment, Niall, who was now red-faced and looking angrier than he had before, took a step back.

“What the bloody hell?” he wondered. He looked at Liam and tried again, but to the same result.

Liam just shrugged and said, “We’re like you, in case you haven’t figured it out yet.”

“Really?”

“I’m almost a hundred and nine,” Louis told him.

Liam nodded. “And I’ll be fifty-five soon.”

“What about you?”

“Uh, I’ll be forty-three,” Niall said.

“And what’s the deal with him?” Louis wondered, nodding his head toward Fergus, who was still moaning and clutching at his stomach.

“He was an arsehole all through secondary. Apparently, it was fun to make fun of the kid with no parents.”

“And you’re… What? Getting revenge?”

Niall smirked. “Something like that.”

“Please,” Fergus begged, reaching out another hand. “Niall, please.”

“You know, I said ‘please’ a lot, too. Back when you took my shoes and made me walk to the orphanage in the mud.”

With another tilt of Niall’s head, Fergus collapsed to the ground, now letting his tears of pain stream down his cheeks.

“Hey, Niall, how long you gonna keep that up?” Liam wondered.

“As long as it takes, you bloody bastard!” Niall yelled the last part at Fergus, who was slowly curling into the fetal position, as if that would help any.

“God, it hurts,” Fergus whimpered from the ground.

“Yeah, well all those punches and kicks you aimed at me hurt, too. Remember those?”

“Niall, please! I was a kid! I was dumb.”

“Yeah, you still are. Now shut up!”

Fergus let out another scream, and Louis looked over his shoulder to see if anyone else was around.

He looked at Liam, who was already looking in his direction. Louis nodded once, and that was all it took.

“Hey, man,” Liam said, “you’re gonna kill him.”

“Can’t kill people, no matter how much they might deserve it,” Niall replied, almost sadly. “But I can make them wish for death…”

“Niall, stop!”

“Or what?” He took his eyes away from Fergus to stare Liam down. “What are you gonna do? Whatever power you have, you can’t use it against me, so if you don’t want to see this, then why are you still here?”

Just then Louis charged at Niall, knocking him down to the ground.

“Liam, go!” Louis yelled as he restrained Niall, keeping him from looking back at Fergus.

“You don’t remember anything about this day,” Liam spoke as he stared deeply into Fergus’ eyes.

As expected, Fergus’ pupils dilated, widening as if they were absorbing the information that was spilling from Liam’s mouth.

“You don’t remember anybody named Niall,” Liam also said. “In fact, you feel great. Nothing unusual has ever happened in this park.”

“What are you doing?” Niall shouted, trying to fight Louis off him.

“Now get up,” Liam finished, “and run.”

Immediately, Fergus’ eyes went back to normal and he jumped up, running away from the other men without a glance back.

“No!” Niall yelled.

Louis released Niall’s arms, and the blonde quickly got to his feet. He looked in the direction that Fergus had gone, and realized that his former bully was just a speck in the distance.

“Why did you do that?” he asked, turning on Louis and Liam. “Why? You have no business here!”

“It’s our business when you’re an immortal using your power for evil instead of good,” Louis explained.

“Oh, because you’re the almighty immortality police? Shut the fuck up and get out of my town.”

“Gladly. We’re just passing through; headed for Dublin, actually.”

“Dublin? Why?”

Louis shrugged. “We’ve never been, so we thought we’d travel over there. Care to join?”

“What and just drop everything I have here?” Niall asked.

“What _do_ you have going on here?” Liam wondered.

“A job. I’m a carpenter. And friends. I mean, I can’t just leave.”

“Well look,” Louis offered, “we can stay for a few days if you want to think about it. But I think we all know that you would rather use your power for good instead of torturing idiots like Fergus just to get revenge.”

“You don’t even know me,” Niall said softly.

“No; I don’t. But Liam and I have never met anyone else like us, and I’d hate to let that pass us by. We’re staying at Flannery’s if you want to come see us.”

Niall nodded. “OK.”

“Great. Now, can you direct us to Laoghaire’s pub?”

Niall laughed. “Of course. That’s my second home. Come on. You can buy me a pint.”

“Why would we buy you one?” Liam wanted to know.

“Because you just asked me to leave my country behind and go with you to use my ability for good, you nut. You’ll be buying me quite a few pints.”

They started walking, and Niall asked, “So, what exactly is it that you do?”

 

**Somewhere between Chula Vista, California and Tijuana, Mexico**

**January 10, 2007**

 

Harry peeked slowly around the corner of the tunnel he was in. He didn’t see anybody, so he waved his hand forward, signaling for Louis and the Liam copy behind him that they should keep moving.

A few days ago, they’d gotten word from Jesy, their Mexican informant, that there was to be a huge drug haul across the border tonight. However, unlike most of the other busts they’d done in the past, this one was going to be underground.

This tunnel was just one of nearly two hundred others like it, used for moving drugs like crack and heroin from Mexico to the United States. It was about eight feet high and eight feet wide, with cement walls and floors and beams every fifteen to twenty feet for support. There was ample lighting, provided by the lamps hanging from the ceiling and fresh air could be felt breezing through the ventilation system.

It was complex and highly sophisticated for an underground tunnel. Harry was only a little impressed by the work that went into making it.

Harry remembered hearing a story from the others about a [similar case](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4653536.stm) they’d worked on last year, about six months before Harry met them.

Louis had given Harry some tips on what to look out for at the San Diego apartment last night.

_“Keep your eyes open for any obvious packaging,” Louis had instructed him. “Obviously, any boxes or crates. But also, look for anything that might be suspicious: gaps in the walls, uneven floors… The guys who run these tunnels have to be on top of their game if they plan on having their operations be successful. They never know when officers will find the tunnels, and don’t want their product to be found and taken into police custody.”_

Harry, Louis and a Liam copy had started at one end, while Niall and the real Liam, who drove down to Tijuana this morning, had started at the other.

The instructions were clear: the boys were to enter the tunnel from opposite ends, clearing the path of any enemies and uncovering any evidence, while Jesy and her teams were going to enter fifteen minutes after the boys so they could easily make any arrests or confiscate any drugs that were found.

Harry kept his eyes open, looking out for anything suspicious. This was his first drug mission, and he didn’t want to mess it up. He ran his hand along the wall next to him, feeling out for anything that might stick out, like Louis said.

It wasn’t until they were a few miles in when he felt a slight gap beneath his fingertips. He stopped walking and checked, examining the wall from an angle.

He felt along the crease until he found a part that felt lighter than the rest. He pressed against it, and a panel popped out, revealing a secret compartment. Inside of it were stacks of packages containing heroin.

“Bingo,” Harry said.

Louis shook his head before pulling out his phone. He snapped a few pictures of the evidence before pocketing it. “All right. Let’s leave this one open for Jesy.”

Just then, Harry heard a whistle: long and deep before quickly rising in pitch.

Harry looked toward the direction they’d come, but didn’t see anyone. Louis, however, stiffened, and focused on something ahead of them.

“What?” Harry whispered, not seeing anything. The path slightly curved off to the right, so from where he stood, there was nothing there.

Louis responded by grabbing Harry’s hand and pulling Harry behind him.

Harry resisted rolling his eyes at Louis’ overprotectiveness. Ever since he got shot in Chile last month, Louis had been extra cautious with Harry’s safety.

It wasn’t Harry’s fault that he hadn’t seen the shooter. The man was hiding in a tree; how was Harry supposed to notice him?

Louis turned to the Liam copy and tilted his head forward, signaling that he should go first.

Liam just nodded and slowly started walking ahead. They looked around the corner and, not seeing anything, continued moving forward. They took only a few more steps when they heard another whistle, the same one they’d heard before. Louis’ hand tightened on Harry’s, as he still hadn’t let go of it.

Harry turned around and saw who must’ve been the lookout. It was a boy, no more than sixteen or seventeen, standing where the three of them had just been. Harry hadn’t even seen him; he must have come from around the corner.

“Lou,” Harry whispered.

Louis turned around and saw the boy, who now had his arms crossed in front of him. Louis stood up straighter, trying to decide what to say. They hadn’t been warned about any kids being involved, and no way was he going to hurt a minor.

Seconds later, he heard a loud thump behind him, and Louis turned to the direction he’d originally been facing, only to see a man holding a gun pointed right at him, and Liam on the ground, flickering away due to the bullet in his head.

Upon closer inspection, Louis saw the silencer attached to the barrel of the gun.

Harry turned, too and saw the scene in front of him.

“Well, what do we have here?” the man asked in a heavy Spanish accent. He took a few steps forward, his eyes bouncing between Louis and Harry and the Liam clone who was just about gone. “Immortals, huh? In some form, your friend wasn’t, but I’m going to guess you are by association. It’s nice to meet some more of my own kind every now and then. Now, who are you and what are you doing here?”

Louis and Harry stayed silent, staring only at the man.

“Oh, I’m being rude. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Ramirez, and you’re in my tunnel. You’re not part of my team, and last I knew, I didn’t allow visitors. So I’ll ask you again: who are you and what are you doing here?”

They still didn’t respond, so Ramirez just shrugged and said, “OK, then.”

Then he aimed his gun at Louis’ knee and pulled the trigger.

“No!” Harry shouted out, at the same time that Louis yelled, “Son of a bitch!” Of all the places to get shot, the knee was definitely the most painful.

Louis gritted his teeth and sank down to the floor, keeping a tight grip on Harry’s hand so he wouldn’t actually land on his knee.

“You could just tell me what I want to know,” Ramirez said with a shrug. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

“Or you could just fuck off and hand yourself over to the police,” Harry shot back.

“Ooh, we have a feisty one! Aww, are you mad because I shot your boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Louis and Harry said at the same time.

“Ahh, young love.” Ramirez grinned. “Cute. Still doesn’t explain what you thought you would be able to do down here. I mean, especially not now that my friends have joined us.”

Harry looked over his shoulder to see four new men standing there, each armed with a different gun. The kid who had blown their cover was peeking out from behind the corner, like he didn’t know if he should still be there.

“How do you know we don’t have friends here, too?” Louis asked.

“Oh, I’m sure you do. I’m also sure they’ll be able to inflict as much damage as you can: none.”

Ramirez’s henchmen chuckled behind them.

“Now, what do you say we go sit down somewhere more comfortable and you tell me who you work for and where I can best reach them?”

“Fuck you,” Louis spat.

Ramirez shook his head. “And here I was, trying to be nice.”

“And this is us trying to be nice before our friends show up and we destroy you.”

“Oh, is that so? Well let’s see, then. Friends! Oh, friends! Where are they? Are they behind me? Are they just waiting to pop out?”

“Something like that,” Harry said.

“Hmm… Well let’s see them, then. In the meantime, which knee would you like to lose first? Your left or your right?”

Ramirez aimed the gun at Harry, who just stared it down. He let himself smirk when he saw two Liam copies barreling down the tunnel toward them.

When he saw Harry’s expression, Ramirez turned around and saw what was happening. He aimed the gun toward the Liam copies instead, who dropped to the ground before he could pull the trigger.

Harry used the brief distraction to run at Ramirez and try to wrestle his gun away.

Ramirez’s henchmen were confused at where to shoot first, so they focused on the two Liam copies, who were both shot and flickering away within seconds.

Before anything else happened, the real Liam came running down and stood in front of Harry, who had just landed a punch on Ramirez’s jaw.

Liam stood there as the other men fired their guns at him, but he smiled as each bullet bounced right off his chest, head, legs and arms.

“Well, now that that’s over with…” Liam blinked his eyes, and two copies appeared, one on each side of him. They charged at Ramirez’s henchmen.

Niall joined the fight, but only to get Louis out of the way. “Come on, Lou,” he said, inching his way past Harry and Ramirez and down to the ground where Louis was.

“No way,” Louis told him, his attention bouncing between Harry and Liam.

“Lou, come _on._ You’re hurt.”

To prove his point, he flicked at Louis’ knee, causing Louis to wince and grit his teeth. His body hadn’t pushed the bullet out yet, so he still felt a lot of pain.

“No! So help one of them or help me stand up!” Louis yelled.

Harry landed a kick to Ramirez’s leg, but was then thrown back against the wall behind him. Ramirez wound up to punch Harry, but Harry leaned to the side, causing Ramirez’s fist to make contact with the cement behind his head. Harry grabbed the good hand, the one that still held his gun and aimed it at the ceiling. He aimed another punch at Ramirez’s side, which was now stretched out and completely exposed, which knocked some of the wind right out of Ramirez.

On the other side of Louis, Liam was fighting off the other four men. The problem was, they all had guns and weren’t afraid to aim them at the Liam copies. On the plus side, as one Liam copy was shot and flickered out, another one took its place in the fight. The real Liam grabbed hold of two of the henchmen’s heads and slammed them together, knocking both of them unconscious. One of the clones fell into him, knocking them both down to the ground. The real Liam reached around his own copy and grabbed hold of the other henchman’s leg. He pulled, causing the man to lose his balance and allowing Liam to knock the gun from his hand. Another copy kicked it backward and it slid across the floor to where Louis was still sitting.

Louis grabbed hold of it and aimed it for Ramirez. He couldn’t kill the man, but he could at least inflict some damage.

However, Ramirez saw Louis pick up the gun and immediately put Harry in a chokehold. He angled Harry’s face so that it was slightly in front of his own and held his gun up to Harry’s head.

“Pull your trigger and I’ll pull mine,” Ramirez hissed.

Louis frowned, annoyed that Ramirez had the better shot. He knew from experience that bullets to the head hurt like a bitch, and he didn’t want Harry to go through that. Harry had only been shot once in his life; Louis didn’t want to increase that number.

He looked at Harry, who very subtly shook his head. If he hadn’t been looking for it, Louis never would’ve spotted it.

Reluctantly, he loosened his hold on the gun and pulled his hands back, signaling surrender. “Fine.”

Ramirez grinned. “Giving up so easily?”

Louis shook his head. “No. Just, my boy can take care of himself.”

At Louis’ words, Harry quickly grabbed the gun with his right hand and swung his left elbow backward, making contact with Ramirez’s chest. The man was caught off-guard, allowing Harry to twist out of his hold. He dropped to his knees and punched straight forward as hard as he could, hitting Ramirez in the groin. When Ramirez doubled over, Harry punched upward into Ramirez’s stomach and then grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him to the ground. When Ramirez’s back made contact with the cement floor, Harry snatched the gun out of his hand and wound his arm back.

“No!” Ramirez yelled weakly.

But he wasn’t strong enough to stop Harry from slamming the barrel of the gun against Ramirez’s head, knocking him unconscious, as well.

He took a quick breath before turning and aiming his gun at the last of Ramirez’s henchmen and firing a shot off, hitting him in the shoulder.

It slowed him down enough for Liam to grab him by the head and throw him backward. His head hit the wall behind him and he fell to the ground in a heap.

Liam and Harry looked at each other, both out of breath.

“Thanks for the help, Niall,” Liam finally said. He blinked and his copies disappeared.

“Yeah; really appreciate it,” Harry added, getting up to his feet.

Niall shrugged. “You guys had it under control. Besides, what could I have done? Harry has officially become a better fighter than me.”

Harry smiled at the unexpected praise.

“Yeah, that last move you pulled on Ramirez was pretty sweet,” Liam agreed. “Grabbing the gun with one hand and twisting enough to land a punch with the other? Smooth.”

“Yeah, those boxing lessons have really helped,” Louis said. “Not bad, Styles. I’m impressed.”

“Thanks, guys.”

“Now if this bullet would just finish getting pushed out of my knee, I’ll be all right.”

“You got a nice little hole in your jeans,” Niall noticed.

“Yeah.” Louis shook his head. “I hate it. It looks ridiculous.”

“No, that’s how all the kids are wearing them these days,” Liam told him. “What do they call it? ‘Distressed’?”

“Yeah, Lou,” Harry jumped in. “It’s fashion.”

“Fashion, my ass. I’m the only one who’ll be distressed if I don’t patch these jeans up tonight. They’re my favorites.”

Liam turned as he heard a noise coming from the left. “That’ll be Jesy’s teams. I should go let them know where everything is that we found.”

“Did you find a lot on your side?” Louis asked. “Harry and I just found the one compartment with heroin.”

“Yeah, there was a lot. Lucky there were a bunch of me looking; we might not have gotten to you guys in time. You might both have bullets in your knees.”

“My hero!”

Liam rolled his eyes before blinking them. Two copies of himself appeared and one ran off in either direction to show the border officials where the drugs were.

Louis grunted as he focused on getting the bullet out of his knee. It still really hurt.

After a few moments of intense concentration, it simply popped out and fell to the ground. Louis ran his fingers over his kneecap, which showed no signs of scarring or disfigurement. It looked exactly the same as it had before he’d gotten shot.

“You ready now?” Niall asked.

“Yup!” Louis stuck a hand up toward his friend. Niall took it in his own, and pulled Louis up to his feet.

“Hey, what do you think happened to that kid?” Harry wondered, taking another look around.

“What kid?” Liam asked.

“There was a kid just around the corner. We think he whistled when he saw us and gave the other guys a heads up that we were coming.”

“If he knows what’s good for him, he ran away and will never return to a life of crime,” Louis replied.

Harry just nodded. “Yeah. Sure hope so.”

 

**Vieques, Caribbean Sea**

**December 24, 2009**

Harry rolled over in his bed when he felt someone slide in next to him. He peeked open one eye to see Louis sitting back against his headboard and taking another bite of his cereal.

“Hey,” Louis said quickly, trying not to let any Cinnamon Toast Crunch fall from between his lips.

“Hey. What time is it?”

“Like, nine something?”

Harry nodded before shooting his head up. “Happy Birthday!”

“Yeah, thanks.” Louis put his bowl down on Harry’s bedside table and looked down at his friend with a somber expression.

“‘Yeah, thanks’? That’s all I get?” Harry sat up. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just don’t feel like celebrating this year.”

“Is this because you’re two hundred now?”

Louis shushed him. “Shut up. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, I do!”

Harry shifted his position, swinging a leg over Louis’ and seating himself in Louis’ lap.

“This would be a lot better if you were wearing underwear,” Louis stated, noting Harry’s complete lack of clothing.

“Like you’ve never seen me naked before. It’s been three years, Lou. Get over it.”

Louis didn’t have anything to say. Harry was right; he, Liam and Niall had gotten quite used to Harry’s nudity in the time they’ve been working together.

Louis was just convinced it affected him more than the others.

“Besides,” Harry pointed out, “ _you_ came into _my_ room. What did you expect?”

Louis pouted. “You were taking too long to wake up.”

“Anyway…” Harry said, putting on a serious face, “you’re two hundred years old. That’s awesome! That means you have two hundred years worth of wisdom to share with us. It also means that you’re like, the strongest person on earth.”

“That you know of,” Louis interjected.

“That I know of; you’re right. There could be someone roaming the planet who’s older than you and we don’t know it.”

“There probably is. I mean, what are the chances that I’m the oldest one of our kind?”

Harry shrugged. “Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that it’s fucking incredible that you’re two hundred. I’m going to be eighty. You’re two-and-a-half times my age.”

Louis rolled his eyes and pushed Harry off his lap. “Well you just ruined it.”

Harry laughed as he flopped down on the bed. “I did no such thing.”

Louis picked his cereal bowl back up and started to drink the milk that was still in it, just as they heard a knock at the door.

“Come in!” Harry yelled.

Liam peeked his head in and, unaffected by their current position, said, “You guys ready for breakfast? Niall and I were going to start cooking.”

“Yup!” Harry rolled off his bed and walked to the door. “I’m taking a quick shower then I’ll be ready.”

Liam moved back so Harry could get by him and shot Louis a knowing glance.

“What?” Louis wanted to know.

“Nothing. Happy Birthday, Louis.”

With a smirk, he left the room, leaving Louis alone with his thoughts and only a slight stiffness in his boxers.

\---

Harry walked outside of their vacation house. He had a towel draped over his shoulder and a pair of goggles in his hand.

He started to make the short trip down the path to the beach, their own private strip of it that came with the purchase of the house.

Harry breathed in the fresh ocean air, the thwacking of his flip-flops and crashing of the waves the only sounds he heard. When Liam had suggested coming down here a few days ago for Louis’ birthday, Harry had only been too eager to pack. They almost never made use of the vacation home; Harry had only been there three other times before this trip. Four vacations in three-and-a-half years was unacceptable.

Of course, Harry still loved what they did. He still enjoyed saving people from idiots who became too full of themselves and tried to gain too much power, and he was absolutely still thrilled at being able to work with Louis, Liam and Niall. They were the best people he could’ve asked for to spend the rest of eternity with.

Which reminded him, he needed to visit Gemma as soon as they got back. His sister had just celebrated her eighty-third birthday, and the signs of age were really starting to show. As much as Harry didn’t want to think about it, he thought her days were coming to an end.

He reached the beach and dropped his towel under a tree. After kicking off his flip flops, he went up to the ocean and put his goggles on. He started walking in, waiting until he was waist deep before taking a deep breath and diving under the surface of the crystal-clear water.

Harry instantly felt relaxed, as the water was at least forty degrees warmer than anything he would feel back home in New York.

He came out of the water just enough to take another deep breath and swam farther out. Below him, he could see a small school of vibrant blue and yellow fish. They were swimming slowly along, minding their own business as Harry observed from above.

Harry took another breath and continued swimming, eventually reaching a patch of coral that was surrounded by a few large rocks and even more fish.

Harry loved coming here. The island was very lowly populated, so it was already private. But here, on their own strip of beach that was just a minute’s walk away from their house that sat at the end of its own quiet street, Harry felt like he was the only person in the world.

And as someone who had seen the world several times and was constantly helping other people, he could fully appreciate that feeling every now and then.

He rose to the surface and flipped over to his back, letting himself float for a little while. As he did, he let his mind wander back to this morning.

It wasn’t the first time that he had straddled Louis while being completely naked. It also wasn’t the first time that the two of them had been caught by Liam or Niall in a compromising position.

But it had been the first time Harry had felt a serious reaction out of Louis. If Harry wasn’t mistaken, there was something a little extra in Louis’ boxers this morning.

And Harry definitely wasn’t mistaken.

Harry didn’t want to get his hopes up that it meant something. It was early and there was sudden friction in Louis’ lap. That’s all it was.

Harry shut his eyes and drifted. His little crush – or infatuation or lust or whatever it was – on Louis had gone on for too long. They’d all been working together for more than three years and at first, Harry just thought Louis was hot. But, over the years, Harry saw a lot of attractive, little things about Louis.

Like the way the skin at the corners of his eyes crinkled when he genuinely laughed or how expressive he was when he had a strong reaction to something. Or, how sassy he was to everyone he met, even when he had a gun pointed in his face. Of course, there was how much he honestly loved this team and even though he was the leader of the group, he never acted like his opinion was more valuable to missions than theirs were. And how could Harry forget Louis’ naturally curvy, compact body, with thick thighs and gorgeous ass that Harry wanted to eat until he made Louis cry?

Harry’s eyes shot open. Well, that had taken a turn.

He plugged his nose and dunked his head under the water, hoping to cool himself off a little. Despite the warmth of the water, Harry knew that his body was much more heated.

When he felt like he was going to pass out, he brought his face to the surface and took another deep breath.

“If you’re trying to drown yourself, you’re doing it wrong!”

Harry glanced toward the beach and saw Louis there, watching him with a wide smile on his face.

He swam toward the shore far enough so that his feet could touch the bottom again. He stood up and peeled off his goggles.

After he did, he shook out his hair and looked up at Louis, who was trying – and failing – to be subtle about the onceover he was giving Harry’s body.

Harry grinned. “My eyes are up here, Lou.”

Reluctantly it seemed, Louis’ eyes shot up to meet Harry’s. “Getting a little lanky, kid. You might want to ask Liam for some more boxing lessons.”

Harry scoffed. “Uh-huh. Sure.”

He leaned back so he was fully submerged in the water and asked, “Are you coming in? You know, as a celebratory birthday swim or something?”

“Yeah, I guess I could.”

It didn’t seem like Louis was that eager to jump in yet, though. He looked out toward the horizon, squinting slightly in the bright sunlight.

“What are you thinking about?” Harry asked.

Louis shrugged. “I don’t know. Being two hundred, I guess. It’s weird, you know? Like, I’ve lived through two centuries on this planet.”

“And what did I tell you this morning? That’s awesome!”

Louis smiled. “Yeah, I guess. But, like… I haven’t left my mark on the world or anything. Like, I don’t feel like I’ve made a huge difference.”

“Uh, of course you have. It’s in the lives of thousands of people that you’ve saved, and the hundreds or thousands of criminals you’ve sent to jail or, like Adam Bennett, killed off before they could hurt someone else or do something else wrong.”

“Well gee, when you put it that way…”

Harry laughed. “You’ve done an amazing job in your life, Louis. Don’t act like you haven’t.”

“I know I have, just- I wish we got more recognition for it.”

“Ahh, there it is. Why didn’t you just say that?”

“Because I would’ve sounded stupid,” Louis answered.

“Louis, you could never sound stupid. You know you can tell me anything.”

Louis nodded just once.

“But I wish we did, too,” Harry admitted. “I also know why that’s not possible, and so do you.”

“Of course I do. I think I was the one who explained the reasons why a few years back.”

“Probably,” Harry said.

Louis didn’t say anything else. He just kept staring out toward the horizon, like he was waiting for someone to come in from the sea.

“Will you please cheer up?” Harry asked. “Please? It’s your birthday. I don’t like seeing you so glum.”

“Sorry.”

Louis shot him a quick smile before it fell from his face.

“OK. That’s it.”

Harry stood up in the water and walked up to Louis.

“What are you- No!” Louis turned and started running. Harry, of course, chased after him.

Louis was faster than Harry, but Harry took longer strides. They raced all the way down the beach, eventually reaching the large pile of rocks that marked the end of their property.

Harry cornered Louis against them. Louis held his hands up in surrender.

“Come on,” Louis pleaded. “It’s my birthday; you wouldn’t throw me in.”

“Oh, _now_ you remember that it’s your birthday?” Harry grinned. “You didn’t seem so keen about it a minute ago.”

“Well, now I am.”

Harry kept walking forward, though, until Louis’ back hit the smooth surface of the rock behind him. Harry placed his hands on the rock, one on either side of Louis’ body, effectively boxing him in.

He leaned forward, looked Louis right in the eyes and asked, “Are you happy that today’s your birthday?”

“Yes.”

“You mean it?”

“Yes, Harry! I mean it!”

“Good.” Harry licked his lips, still staring right at Louis, but seemed to lean in just a little more.

Louis took a deep breath through parted lips, feeling his heart starting to race from something other than running down the beach. He let his gaze quickly drop from Harry’s eyes down to his lips and back again.

Harry winked. “Too late.”

“What!”

Harry ducked and grabbed Louis around the legs, flinging him over his shoulder.

“You’ve got to be kidding! Harry, put me down!” Louis protested, kicking his legs and hitting at Harry’s back.

“Keep going; that back massage you’re giving me feels great.”

Louis groaned and slapped Harry’s ass instead.

“Ooh, Louis! How’d you know I liked that?”

“You’re the worst. And so immature; it’s so clear that you’re only eighty!”

Harry let out a loud laugh. “Not eighty yet, Lou.”

For good measure, he slapped Louis’ ass, as well.

Louis huffed, but had seemed to accept his fate. He didn’t bother fighting Harry anymore.

They got to the water and Harry waded in. Once they were knee-deep, Harry shifted his hold so that he had Louis in his arms, bridal-style.

“OK. Maybe I won’t throw you in,” Harry said. He continued walking, though, so Louis wasn’t convinced.

“Yes, you will!” Louis whined. “You’re just teasing me now.”

“Oh, trust me, Lou. If I was teasing you, you would know it.”

“This is the literal definition of teasing. It’s ‘cat and mouse,’ as defined by Merriam-Webster.”

“I’m not that cruel, Louis. You know I love you.”

“Well act like it, then!” Louis said.

“Fine. I won’t throw you in.” Harry stopped walking and loosened his grip on Louis.

Louis sighed. “Thank you.”

“Just kidding.” And then he wound his arms back and effortlessly tossed Louis into the ocean.

He had just enough time to plug his nose and shut his eyes before falling into it.

He kicked himself up to the surface and found Harry putting his goggles back on.

“Come on,” Harry said. “Let’s go see some fish.”

“I don’t want to see any fish!”

“Yeah, you do.”

Harry took a deep breath and dove under the water, swimming away from Louis.

Louis grunted and wiped his eyes before following Harry. He kind of did want to see the fish.

 

**New York City**

**December 28, 2009**

Harry walked into Gemma’s room to find his sister already in bed. The news was on, and she was paying partial attention to it as her eyes drifted between open and shut.

It was early afternoon, and he’d hoped to catch her before she took her nap, but it looked like that wasn’t happening today. This visit would definitely be a short one.

“Harry,” she spoke quietly, smiling as her brother walked in.

It was easy to return the smile. “Hey, Gem. How are you feeling?”

“Tired.”

Harry nodded. He grabbed the armchair that sat beside her dresser and moved it so he could sit next to the bed. “You look great.”

She let out a quick laugh. “I do not. But I’m here. That’s what counts.”

Harry took in her appearance. She’d lost a lot of her gray hair over the last few years, and it was now very short, just a thin layer covering her head. The wrinkles in her face were more defined and her cheeks were a bit sunken in.

Gemma was sitting up, at least, leaning back against a few pillows, and had her hands folded in her lap. Based on the pictures of their mother Gemma had shown him years ago, Harry thought the two of them looked very similar at this age.

“I love you, Gem,” Harry said quietly.

“I love you, too, H.”

Knowing nothing else really needed to be said right now, Harry turned his chair so he could see the television. He grabbed Gemma’s hand in his own and watched the news with her.

Harry made passing comments on what the broadcasters were saying and Gemma nodded along as she listened.

Within ten minutes, Gemma was asleep. Her hold on Harry’s hand had loosened significantly, but he kept his hand right where it was.

Harry watched his sister sleep for just a moment. She looked so peaceful.

The longer he sat there, however, the more he wanted to cry. He was going to miss his sister so much when she passed, and since he was a practical person, he knew that would be soon.

He just hoped he was in town when that day finally came.

He knew he couldn’t sit there all day, though, so after another few minutes, he kissed the back of her hand before gently placing it down on the bed.

He stood up and returned the chair to where it went.

He looked back only once, seeing her chest slowly rise and fall, before finally exiting the room.

He went downstairs and, in the small sitting area near the front door, saw Louis waiting for him. He was reading a newspaper, curled up in the armchair he was occupying.

Harry smiled as he walked over.

Louis looked up when he was a few steps away.

“Everything all right?” he asked.

Harry nodded. “Yeah.”

Louis folded up his paper and returned it to the front desk. Then they put their coats on before leaving the building.

As soon as they turned the corner, Harry stopped walking, and instead, leaned back against the building they stood next to. Tears started falling freely down his face.

“Harry?” Louis asked worriedly. “What happened?”

“Nothing… She doesn’t have much more time, Louis.”

Louis stood quietly. He knew all about Gemma and how much Harry hated that he would have to soon live without her. He’d gone most of his life without anybody to rely on, and now that he had his sister back, he didn’t want her to continue growing old while he stayed the same.

Louis pulled Harry into a hug and let him cry on his shoulder.

Harry turned and hid his face in the crook of Louis’ neck, and Louis just tightened his hold.

“It’s OK,” Louis said quietly. “Let it out.”

Louis didn’t know how long they stood there on that corner, but he knew they would stay there until Harry was OK.

Eventually, Harry stopped crying, but neither one of them moved.

“She’s not gone yet, Haz. OK?” Louis reminded him. “You still have time to spend with her. Don’t forget that.”

Harry nodded. “I know. It’s just hard.”

“I know. If there’s anyone in the world who understands, it’s me.”

Harry took a step back. He wiped his face, trying – and failing – to make his face look less puffy.

It wasn’t like Louis minded, though. He still thought Harry looked beautiful, even with his red eyes and sniffling nose.

“Let’s go home,” Harry said.

Louis smiled and held out his hand.

Harry took it easily, but didn’t interlock their fingers.

As they walked, Louis swung their joined hands between them, getting a smile from Harry.

Louis always knew how to cheer Harry up, even without saying anything.

 

**New York City**

**February 1, 2010**

 

Harry woke up on his eightieth birthday with a card taped to his face.

With a grumble, he lifted a hand up and peeled it off, wincing when the tape pulled at the skin on his forehead and yanked out a few baby hairs, as well.

He blinked his eyes a few times, just enough to be able to focus on the words he had to read.

On the front of the card was an old man sitting at a bar, wearing a plaid shirt with green suspenders and khaki pants. He was holding up a beer glass, toasting with a bunch of young people.

At the bottom, in black writing, it said, ‘It’s Your 80th Birthday!’

Harry rolled his eyes. He knew exactly what was coming. But he opened it anyway.

He was unsurprised to read on the inside, ‘You Don’t Look a Day Over 21! Happy Birthday!’

It was signed with a smiley face, so Harry knew it was from Louis, not that Liam or Niall would ever get him a card with that message.

He grinned to himself and rolled out of bed, nearly stepping on a balloon. Scratch that. _Balloons._ Plural.

His room was full of them – brightly colored oxygen-filled balloons lying all across his bedroom floor, spilling from his closet and on every surface possible.

Louis must’ve been up all night blowing these up, and probably employed Liam and Niall to get the job done, too.

Harry laughed and kicked the red balloon in front of his foot, which moved a bunch of other ones as it flew through the air.

He got a whiff of bacon cooking and decided to get up before he wasted the whole day just kicking balloons around.

He left his room and walked in to the kitchen to find Louis at the stove, Liam at the counter pouring juice and Niall rinsing dishes at the sink.

Harry walked up behind Louis and carefully wrapped his arms around his waist. Louis didn’t even jump, as he’d heard Harry come in. He just smiled and continued flipping the bacon in his pan.

“Thank you for the card,” Harry spoke into his ear. “And the balloons.”

“You’re welcome.”

Harry stepped away and leaned back against the fridge. “I think I know the answer to this question, but did you blow up eighty balloons?”

Louis shook his head. “Nah. There’s way more than that. Eighty just didn’t fill up the space quite like I wanted it to.”

Harry chuckled. “Well it’s great. It’ll keep me busy for a while today.”

“Now I’m sure you’ll want to do other things besides play with balloons,” Louis said.

“Well, yeah. I definitely want to go see Gemma. But maybe we could all do dinner tonight?”

Louis nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good. Whatever you want; it’s your birthday.”

“OK. What do you think, guys?” Harry asked.

Liam and Niall looked up from what they were doing.

“Oh, did you notice that we were here?” Niall wondered.

Harry blushed. He and Louis sometimes had the tendency to do that: find themselves involved in their own conversation, in their own little world.

“But yeah, that sounds good to me,” Niall continued.

“I’ll make us a reservation somewhere,” Liam offered. “Just the four of us.”

“Because we never do anything anymore with just the four of us,” Louis joked.

The others chuckled at the comment. It wasn’t like they could deny it.

Harry cleared his throat. “So, what’s for breakfast?”

“Liam made you your favorite blueberry pancakes,” Louis answered. “I’m finishing up the bacon now and the eggs are already done. And-”

He was interrupted by a popping sound a few feet away.

“-That should be the toast finishing, too.”

Liam pulled the last two pieces out of the toaster and laid them on the plate that held the other pieces.

Louis finished the bacon and moved the pan to a different burner. “Food’s up.”

As Liam and Niall got plates and started to get their food, Louis told Harry, “We can go see Gem after breakfast if you want.”

“Yeah, that’ll be good. I want to see her early. She’s usually more alert in the mornings.”

Louis nodded. “OK. I have a new book I’ve wanted to start reading, too. I’ll bring that for the waiting room.”

Harry smiled, happy that Louis understood exactly what it was that Harry needed: alone time with his sister, but support and a shoulder to lean on after he left her.

He grabbed Louis’ hip and gave it a gentle squeeze before moving to get his breakfast.

If this was what eighty was going to look like, it wasn’t too bad.

 

**Athens International Airport**

**February 26, 2010**

 

“So what’s going on with you and Louis?” Niall asked.

He and Harry were sitting in the airport terminal, waiting for their flight home to begin boarding. Louis and Liam had just gone to the bathroom, so it seemed like as good a time as any to ask the question that had been on Niall’s mind for a while.

“What do you mean?”

Niall rolled his eyes. “Don’t act dumb.”

“I’m not acting.”

“Harry…”

“What?” Harry asked, laughing at his own little joke. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about how touchy feely you two are.”

“We’ve always been like that.”

“Not true,” Niall said.

“Yes, true.”

“No, at first it was a little rough between you. If I remember correctly, Louis spent a lot of time wanting to kill you because you seemed hell-bent on doing it yourself.”

Harry considered Niall’s statement before finally agreeing. “OK, maybe he didn’t like me as a person for a little while. But we got over it quickly enough, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, maybe a little too quickly…”

“We’ve all been working together for three years. Shouldn’t you be happy that we get along so well? You know, for the good of the team and whatnot?”

“No, don’t get me wrong. I’m _thrilled_ that you like each other. But, do you guys, you know…?”

“Do we what?” Harry asked, starting to get impatient.

“Do you like, _like_ like each other?”

Harry stared at Niall in shock. “Oh, my God! What are we, in the fourth grade? Did you really just ask me that?”

“Well, I’m trying to figure you guys out. You always say these little flirty things around each other, but as far as I’ve seen and heard, there’s been no action. Neither one of you has made a move.”

“And there won’t be any moves made.”

“So you don’t like him?”

“No.”

Niall raised an eyebrow. “Now say that like you mean it.”

Harry squared his shoulders, rising to the challenge. “No.”

Niall just smiled. “Because you can, you know: like him, that is. Nobody would be upset.”

“Where is this all coming from?” Harry asked. Then his eyes widened. “Wait. Has Louis said something about me? Is that why we’re having this discussion?”

Niall laughed. “ _Now_ who’s in the fourth grade?”

“Niall, come on!”

“No! OK? No, Louis hasn’t said anything to me. But he doesn’t have to, and neither do you.”

Harry stayed silent, understanding that Niall didn’t really need a response.

“Is this the part where you freak out about how you two are… you know… and if it goes really well then you get to be together forever, but if things turn sour then you have to deal with each other for _ever_?”

“Well now it is…”

Niall laughed again. “Harry, come on. You have nothing to worry about. Just talk to Louis. I know it’s scary: discussing feelings and shit, but it needs to be done.”

Once again, Harry didn’t have a response.

“Look, since we were in Bolivia, we missed the real Valentine’s Day. So, Liam and I have plans tonight,” Niall said.

“With each other?”

“Meaning, you two will be alone for a little while,” Niall continued, ignoring Harry’s comment entirely. “Do something about it. Please?”

“Maybe.”

“Promise. Otherwise, I’m sitting next to you on the plane.”

Harry was confused. “So?”

“So, you can’t sit next to Louis. It’s an eleven-hour flight. You’ll get the window seat, and I’m going to fall asleep. Good luck if you want to talk to anyone or get up to go to the bathroom.”

Harry set his jaw. Niall had him, and they both knew it. The best part about flying was getting to joke around with Louis while the rest of the people in first class gave them annoyed glances. Plus, Louis always got up when Harry had to pee – which was at least three times per flight – instead of making him awkwardly crawl over him.

Harry groaned. “Fine. I’ll do something tonight.”

“Good.”

Just then, Louis and Liam returned. Louis looked as annoyed as Harry felt. He briefly wondered if Liam had said something to Louis about tonight, too. They were gone for a while. It was a possibility.

He forgot all about that when an announcement for first class to begin boarding aired over the loudspeaker.

He had the next eleven hours to worry about what the fuck he was going to do tonight.

 

**New York City**

**_if you fuck this up ill chop your balls off_ **

Louis rolled his eyes at the message that Liam, who had left the apartment just a few minutes ago, had just sent him.

Earlier that day, when they were still at the airport in Greece, Liam had taken Louis to the bathroom and basically interrogated him on whatever was happening between him and Harry.

After about ten minutes of debate, Liam had made Louis promise to make a move on Harry tonight, since, according to Liam, it was obvious to anyone with eyes that the two of them had feelings for each other.

And now this message came in, as if Louis was going to flake out on it.

Well, admittedly, Louis had been thinking about just going to bed early and hiding in his room until tonight was over. But no one needed to know that.

“OK, I’m leaving,” Niall said, walking into the living room. He saw Louis sitting alone on the couch and looked over his shoulder. “Hey, Harry’s in his room.”

“So?”

Niall sighed. “Let it be known, I can’t stand either one of you.”

“Love you, too, Niall,” Louis told him.

“Yeah, yeah. Call me if anything happens.”

“You need to know right away? You can’t just wait until you get home?”

“In the _world,_ Louis! Like, if anyone calls with an assignment or-” Niall cut himself off and took a deep breath. “Fuck you. Get your ass off the couch. Good night.”

Without another word or look back, Niall left the apartment.

As soon as the door locked, Louis realized that the apartment had never sounded so silent despite the sounds of the television, the music softly playing in Harry’s room and the traffic outside.

Louis’ heart was racing, like it used to when guns were waved in his face. Only, it was a lot worse right now.

He didn’t know why; it was just Harry that he was with. Harry, who laughed at his own knock-knock jokes and tried to get Louis to eat more vegetables. It was Harry, whose version of dancing involved shoulder shimmies, finger pointing and hip wiggling.

But it was also Harry, who was so beautiful that Louis sometimes found himself breathless when he looked at him, and Harry, who was dedicated to their team and was constantly working out to make himself stronger for any fights they may face. It was Harry, whose heart was so big that Louis always felt that no matter what happened, Harry would always love him, Liam and Niall.

Louis didn’t want to screw this up. He turned the television off and tried to talk himself into getting up.

“Come on, Lou,” he whispered to himself. “Just stand up.”

Miraculously, he found himself rising to his feet. He squared his shoulders and turned around, facing the hallway that led toward Harry’s room.

Then he started shaking his head and sat back down. “Nope. Nope. I can’t do this.”

Louis dropped his head in his hands and let out a deep breath.

He didn’t even know what he would say. ‘Hey, Harry, this may not come as a surprise, but I actually really like you.’ He could always go with the blunt, ‘I really want to fuck you because you probably have an amazing ‘o’ face.’

“Don’t be an asshole,” he muttered to himself. “Just get up and go ask what he’s doing. Get up, Louis. Get up. Get up!”

“Hey, Louis?”

“Jesus!” Louis yelled. He jumped up and turned to see Harry standing at the hallway, watching Louis with a careful expression.

“Are you OK?” Harry asked. “I heard you talking to yourself.”

“No, I’m good. I’m great.”

“All right…”

They stared at each other for a moment, the silence in the room becoming overwhelming in mere seconds.

“Um…” they both said.

“Do you want to watch a movie?” Louis asked. At the same time, Harry wondered, “Are you hungry?”

They both let out quiet laughs.

“Um, I could go for some pizza,” Harry said.

“OK. I’ll call for one.”

“And I’ll make popcorn. Do you want beer, too?”

Louis nodded. “Please?”

“OK. Cool.”

Harry looked like he wanted to say something, but just shook his head and went into the kitchen.

Once he was gone, Louis pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d never felt more awkward in his entire life, not even when he asked Elizabeth Lincoln to the winter formal in seventh grade.

Louis got chills up his spine. God, the memory of that still haunted him, even a hundred and eighty-eight years later, and not just because he’d asked a girl.

The evening in general had been horrible. He’d worn awful wool pants with shoes that were a size too small for his feet. And of course, the music was terrible. It was no easy feat dancing to classical works.

Louis pulled his phone out of his pocket and prepared to call the pizza place a few blocks away.

And then it hit him. Harry was acting really awkwardly, too; it wasn’t just him. He wondered if Niall or Liam had maybe said something to him, too.

The sudden realization was enough to make him walk into the kitchen. When he got there, however, he wasn’t sure how to phrase his question.

“Did you call?” Harry asked before taking a long swig of his Corona. He was sitting on the counter next to the microwave, letting his legs swing back and forth as the popcorn quietly cooked.

“Not yet. Who was it?”

Harry furrowed his brow. “Who was who?”

“Who talked to you? About tonight? Liam or Niall?”

Harry just stared. “Um…”

“Liam talked to me in the bathroom this morning at the airport. So, did Niall get you while we were gone?”

Harry nodded.

“So… It’s true, then. You like me.”

“Well, you like me!”

Louis’ expression instantly softened. “Yeah. I do.”

Harry glanced down at his lap. He stopped swinging his legs as Louis got closer to him, slightly stiffening up when Louis put a hand on each of his upper thighs.

“What’s wrong?” Louis asked.

Harry just shrugged. “I don’t know, just… I’ve been like, waiting for this for a while, and, um…”

“Hey,” Louis whispered.

Harry looked up, making eye contact again.

“Me, too,” Louis admitted.

Harry smiled.

“I like you, you know.”

“I like you, too,” Harry said before licking his lips.

Louis’ gaze fell to follow the motion before returning to Harry’s eyes. He searched them for a sign to move forward. He was positive that he’d found it, right there in Harry’s bright green irises, so he leaned in.

Harry parted his lips as Louis tilted his head up. Louis didn’t hesitate once as he went in for the kiss, not even for a second. Everything about this just felt right.

And then the microwave timer went off, and the two of them jumped apart.

Louis chuckled as he pushed the off button on the appliance, and they were surrounded by silence again.

“Will you go out with me?” he asked quietly. “Like, on a real date: dinner at a nice restaurant and a movie on a big screen? Not beer and popcorn in front of our own television?”

Harry was nodding before Louis could even complete his thought. “Of course. Tomorrow?”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You never know how much free time we’ll have.”

“Good point,” Louis said. “OK. Tomorrow it is.”

“OK.”

Louis smiled and asked, “So, what do you want to watch tonight?”

“ _He’s Just Not That Into You_ ,” Harry answered quickly.

“Why?” Louis wondered with a laugh.

Harry shrugged. “Has a touch of irony, don’t you think? Given the current situation?”

Louis stared for a moment before saying, “Oh, my God.”

He grabbed the second beer off the counter and walked away from Harry, who was laughing loudly.

“You know that was funny!”

The problem was, it actually was kind of funny. But Louis wasn’t giving Harry the satisfaction of knowing that.

\---

Unfortunately, the next day, Perrie called them to ask them to come out to Berlin again. Apparently, the country’s president, Horst Köhler, was giving a speech on the status of the military, and a lot of people were unhappy with how the man seemed to view the military’s involvement in other countries’ affairs.

So, they went out there for a few days, and when they came back, Harry and Louis were going to have their date.

But, of course, before they even boarded their flight in Germany, they got a call from Jesy that two more tunnels from California to Mexico had been found and they both needed to be searched.

The boys didn’t return to New York until the second week of March, and Louis and Harry hoped and prayed that everything would be OK to go out the next day. Thankfully, it was.

 

**New York City**

**March 11, 2010**

 

“How about over there?” Harry suggested.

“Nope. Too crowded.”

Harry laughed. “Lou, there’s like, three people over there.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Louis said. “Too crowded.”

“We’ve been walking around for like, twenty minutes. Can we just pick somewhere? I’m hungry.”

“Maybe this is just a thinly veiled way to hold your hand for a little longer. Did you ever think of that?”

Harry looked down at their joined hands, which were swinging lightly between them. Louis had linked their fingers together as soon as they entered Central Park, where they currently were, and hadn’t let go since.

Harry certainly wasn’t complaining.

“You know you can hold my hand whenever you want, right?” Harry asked, smiling.

“I know. But it’s a beautiful day out, I’m holding hands with definitely the hottest guy in Central Park and we’re going to have a picnic lunch on the grass.”

“Yeah, if you ever pick a spot!”

“OK, OK. How about over there?” Louis wondered. He pointed to a large patch of green grass about thirty feet away.

“It’s perfect. Let’s go.”

They walked over and Louis shook out the blanket he was holding. The two of them sat down and started to unpack the basket that Harry had prepared earlier that morning.

They had turkey and cheese sandwiches, fruit salad, chips, water and chocolate cupcakes that they had made late last night when they were too jetlagged to fall asleep right away.

They loaded up their plates with the food they wanted and each grabbed a bottle of water.

Before they started eating, Louis held up his water in a toast. “To a successful first date.”

Harry laughed and did the same. “Cheers.”

They both took a sip of their water and put them back on the blanket.

“So, what are we supposed to talk about on a date when we’ve known each other for three years and already live together?” Louis asked before taking a bite of his sandwich.

Harry shrugged. “I’m not sure, exactly. I was hoping you might know.”

Louis started laughing. “Yeah, we kind of did everything backward, didn’t we?”

“A little bit. Not all of it, though. We started out as strangers and went through that whole ‘hate to love’ thing.”

“I never hated you.”

“No, but you wanted to strangle me a few times; admit it,” Harry said.

“Maybe once or twice. But only because you weren’t used to being part of a team yet.”

“That’s true. But I learned, didn’t I?”

Louis chuckled. “Yes. You definitely did.”

“Hey, you never did tell me what Liam said to you in the bathroom in Athens.”

“Oh, nothing important, really. Um… Basically, he kept asking me if I liked you and I kept saying that I didn’t. Obviously, that wasn’t true.”

“Obviously.”

“He said that he wasn’t letting me leave the bathroom until I told the truth. I told him that I _was_ telling the truth and that I didn’t have an embarrassing schoolboy crush on you. He told me that he and Niall were going out that night, so we would have the apartment to ourselves, and he threatened bodily harm if I didn’t do something. Once I said that I would, I asked him why he was so insistent on having that discussion. He told me that anybody with eyes could see that I liked you and he couldn’t stand to watch it anymore because it was getting pathetic.”

“You’re not pathetic,” Harry told him.

“No, I kind of was. God, you’ve had me so whipped for so long, and apparently, you didn’t even realize it. You know that before you, I never let Niall or Liam come in my room? Nobody was allowed in.”

“I remember Niall telling me that the first time we went to Germany. He said that you didn’t like people being in there and that I’d officially been warned.”

“Yup,” Louis said. “And one day you walked in – without even knocking, if I remember correctly – like you owned the place and started talking to me about what I wanted for dinner. I just didn’t have the heart to kick you out. And then Niall and Liam started doing that, too, and I realized I was in trouble.”

Harry smiled. “You’ve changed me, too. I’m much stronger – physically and mentally – than I was before. I’m more confident in myself, too. Obviously, you made me want to be part of the team, and that made me listen to other people. I never used to take orders from anyone. I was always so independent and made my own decisions. But I started listening to you, because you’re the leader, to be honest. You always seemed to know what was best.”

Louis shook his head. “I’m not the leader.”

“You kind of are. You have this authority about you, which I guess you don’t realize. Because of that, you used to be so serious about everything and you were so no-nonsense when it came to our missions, which, I guess was a good stance to take. But you never really showed any emotions. You didn’t even want me to hug you after you told me about your family.”

“Well that’s all because of you, though. I figured out how to have fun and express myself while also getting the job done.”

“So basically, we’ve changed each other for the better?”

“Looks like it,” Louis replied with a smile.

Harry smiled back and they continued eating their lunch.

When they finished, Louis asked, “You ready to continue with the day?”

The plan was to return to the apartment and drop off their picnic stuff before going to the movie theater a few blocks away. They were finally seeing _Valentine’s Day,_ a movie that had been on both of their ‘To See’ lists ever since it came out a month ago. After the movie, they were going to go to a bar for drinks.

“Ready,” Harry said.

They stood up and packed up their things. Once they had everything, Louis held out his hand again. Harry easily took it and they walked out of the park. Neither one of them could remember the last time they were this happy.

\---

“Hello?” Louis called out as he and Harry entered the apartment. The place was dark, and considering it wasn’t even midnight yet, both he and Harry found that to be strange.

Harry walked into the kitchen, and found a note on the fridge.

 _Be back in the morning. Have a good night. ;)_ was all it said.

“Hey, Lou!” Harry called out, a smile on his face. “Come here.”

Louis came into the kitchen and read the note. He snorted. “Those two. What are we going to do with them?”

“I know what I’m going to do.”

“What’s that?”

“Thank them,” Harry said, dropping the note to the counter and wrapping his arms around Louis’ neck.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. That’s definitely so.”

Harry leaned in and kissed Louis right on the mouth. Louis breathed in deeply as he kissed him back just as eagerly. He backed them up so that Harry was pressed up against the refrigerator.

Harry tilted his head and parted his lips. He soon felt Louis do the same before slipping his tongue into Harry’s mouth.

Harry moaned when their tongues met and felt his body temperature rise just a few more degrees.

It was suddenly very hot in the kitchen.

He pulled back and stared at Louis. His lips were still parted and he was just a bit short of breath.

“Bedroom?” Louis asked, noticing the look in Harry’s eyes.

Harry could only nod.

Louis took Harry’s hand and led them out of the kitchen and down the hallway to his room. He shut the door behind them and turned around.

“Now, where were we?”

Harry smiled as he returned to Louis’ arms.

Louis pressed his lips softly to Harry’s and placed his hands on his hips. Harry very eagerly kissed him back, putting his hands on the sides of Louis’ face. Louis guided them back toward the bed and gently nudged Harry down so he was sitting on the mattress.

Louis took off his shirt, dropping it to the floor, and then reached down to pull Harry’s up and over his head. He joined their lips together again and pushed back so that they were lying on the bed. Harry pulled away for just a second so he could scoot his way up toward the pillows, and once he was comfortable, Louis kissed him again, this time, forcing Harry’s lips apart with his tongue and slipping it into Harry’s mouth once again.

They stayed like that for a while, lazily making out and letting their hands roam each other’s bodies. Harry spread his legs so that Louis could fall between them, which also allowed their groins to match up.

Louis rubbed them together, feeling Harry’s hardness pressed up against his own. He reached a hand between them and slid it down the front of Harry’s jeans. He took Harry’s cock into his hand and started lightly stroking.

Harry let out a shuddery breath but only kissed him harder and sucked more on his tongue.

Louis felt a few beads of precome when his hand reached the tip, and he smeared it down Harry’s dick as he continued jerking him off.

Harry moaned and thrust his cock up into Louis’ fist, getting some more friction. When Louis ran his fingers down just a little more, running them along Harry’s balls, Harry just moaned even louder.

“Pants. Off,” Harry whispered before dropping his head back to the pillow.

Louis agreed. He got off the bed to pull his jeans and boxers down before returning to do the same for Harry. While he was up, he went to his dresser and pulled lube out of the top drawer.

“Condom or no?” he asked, wanting to be considerate. As immortals, they were immune to all human diseases, including the sexual kind. Condoms were really more of a convenience for them.

Harry smiled before shaking his head. “I want to feel you.”

Louis winked and went back to the bed. He crawled between Harry’s legs and, without warning, dropped his lips down to Harry’s cock.

Harry gasped and shut his eyes, comforted by the warm wetness that was suddenly surrounding his dick. He reached a hand down to run his fingers through Louis’ fringe. He heard – and felt – Louis moan when he scratched at his scalp. Harry’s grip tightened when Louis pulled almost off and sucked roughly at the tip.

“Fuck,” Harry cried out, feeling Louis tighten his lips around the head and flicking his tongue over it.

“Louis, fuck.”

“In due time, love,” Louis said, pulling off.

Harry rolled his eyes. “And you call me cheesy.”

“You still are.” And then Louis ducked his head and licked across Harry’s hole.

Harry moaned loudly and turned his head to try and stifle some of the noise he was making with a pillow. He was unsuccessful, unable to hold back his sounds as Louis licked and kissed his hole and the delicate skin that surrounded it.

Louis pointed his tongue and pressed it against the wet spot, able to push it slightly inside. Harry arched his back, coming just off the bed. “Louis!”

Louis grabbed onto Harry’s waist and brought him back down to the bed, keeping a tight hold so that Harry would remain flat. Slowly, he pushed his tongue deeper into Harry, and Harry covered his face with his hands, still trying to quiet himself down.

“Let it out, babe,” Louis encouraged.

He quickly wiggled his tongue and Harry moved his hands immediately.

“Oh, my God,” Harry whined. He was getting so hot now and knew that it was all because of Louis’ extremely talented mouth.

As Harry shifted his hips, riding Louis’ tongue, Louis grabbed the lube bottle and popped the cap. He let Harry continue moving and coated his fingers. After a moment, he wrapped an arm around Harry’s waist, holding him still.

“No, don’t stop,” Harry protested, even though _he_ was the one who had to stop.

Louis pulled his face back and easily pressed two fingers inside of Harry. He lessened his grip on Harry, who allowed his hips to move again, stretching himself out.

While Harry did the hard work, Louis returned his mouth to Harry’s cock, sucking it between his lips.

Harry reached up and grabbed onto the slatted headboard behind him. He kept his upper body still as his lower body moved on its own – down onto Louis’ fingers and up into his mouth.

“God, just fuck me, please,” Harry begged, feeling his sweat starting to make his back stick to the sheet.

“Are you sure you’re ready?” Louis asked. He curled his fingers and moved them around until Harry’s back arched off the mattress again. “Found it.”

“Fuck you.”

“Maybe later, darling. Right now, I believe that _I_ am going to be fucking _you._ ”

“Louis, please!” Harry whined, starting to get desperate. “Please.”

“Since you were so polite about it…”

Louis slowly pulled his fingers out and wiped them on Harry’s thigh. With one last kiss to the tip of Harry’s cock, he pushed himself up so he was sitting on his shins. He lubed up his cock and tossed the bottle back to his mattress.

“Hold on,” he instructed.

Harry tightened his grip on the headboard and watched as Louis started to push in.

Harry gasped, trying to breathe evenly, knowing that his heart was racing too fast. He was hot, and felt sweaty and gross, but had never felt better about himself than he had at this moment. Louis was watching him with a look of complete and total adoration mixed with a whole lot of lust and desire. Harry knew there wasn’t anywhere else he wanted to be.

His mouth dropped open when Louis bottomed out. He felt full, but also safe, protected and, most of all, loved.

“Kiss me,” he said quietly.

Louis didn’t hesitate to lean down and connect their lips together. He hovered over Harry, holding himself up with his arms, and shifted his hips just a little, wanting Harry to get used to the stretch before he moved.

Harry, however, had other ideas. He reached a hand down to Louis’ ass and massaged the right cheek for just a second before bringing his hand down in a hard slap.

Louis pulled back. “Did you just spank me?”

“Yeah. Get a move on.” Harry winked and took hold of the headboard again.

“OK, then.”

Louis pulled out nearly all the way and slammed back in. Harry let out a loud cry, feeling his body being moved up the mattress. Louis pulled out and thrusted in again, this time, not as roughly, but still sending shivers up Harry’s spine.

He built up an easy rhythm before ducking his head down to Harry’s neck. He pulled the soft skin at the base of his throat into his mouth and started sucking. He lingered there for just a minute before kissing up the side of Harry’s neck and nibbling on his ear.

Harry whimpered, each one punctuated by a thrust of Louis’ cock.

“God, babe,” Harry moaned.

“You like that, baby?”

“Yes… Fuck.”

Louis sat up so he was on his knees and leaned backward, holding himself up with his arms. He drove his hips forward, sending his cock into Harry even faster.

Harry wrapped his legs around Louis and held on as best as he could. He could feel the heat overtaking his body, especially in his lower abdomen. His dick was dark red and flapping against his stomach with every move of Louis’ hips and he knew he had to come soon.

And then Louis hit Harry’s prostate.

“Oh!” Harry cried out. “Louis, stop. Stop.”

Louis immediately did. “What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”

“No. I want to ride you.”

Louis smiled and quickly kissed Harry. “OK.”

He gently pulled out and sat up against the headboard. He put a pillow behind his lower back and held his hands out.

“Come here, baby.”

Harry crawled into Louis’ lap and pressed their foreheads together. He stared into Louis’ eyes as he ran his hands all over Louis’ chest.

He kissed him again and then reached behind himself to take hold of Louis’ cock. He guided it up to his hole and sat slowly down on it.

“Shit,” he said when he was comfortably seated.

Louis grabbed onto Harry’s hips and leaned forward. He took one of Harry’s nipples into his mouth and lightly sucked on it.

Harry moaned and rose himself up a few inches before sinking back down, holding onto Louis’ shoulders for balance. Louis turned his attention to the other nipple as Harry set a slow pace.

When he came down, he swiveled his hips a few times before bringing himself back up. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to keep it off his face. The new position was making him work more and although his thighs hadn’t started to feel it yet, he knew they soon would.

After a moment, Louis adjusted his hips, looking for Harry’s prostate. At first, he couldn’t find it from the new angle. But it was clear when he did. Harry’s eyes shut, his hands tightened on Louis’ shoulders and he let out a few shaky breaths, still sitting in Louis’ lap.

Louis took that as a sign to thrust his hips up again, hitting the desired spot. Harry pressed his lips together and rose up again, this time, meeting Louis in the middle when he came back down.

The new pressure brought on a new wave of pleasure, and Harry was getting closer to his orgasm.

“You look so beautiful like this,” Louis complimented him.

Harry opened his eyes and stared into Louis’ again. He was breathless as they continued moving, now perfectly in sync.

“You, too,” Harry eventually replied. He dropped his head to the crook of Louis’ neck and just held on.

Louis reached his hand down and wrapped it around Harry’s cock, and with just a few strokes, Harry came between them, splattering both of their chests with hot, white streaks.

When he was finished, Louis carefully rolled them forward so that they were horizontal again. Harry lay there as Louis pounded away at his ass, using his last bit of energy to reach his own orgasm. He came just moments later, thrusting deeply into Harry and spilling inside of him.

Harry took in a quick breath when he felt Louis filling him up even more and clenched down so he could squeeze everything out of him.

The two of them lay there together, catching their breath. They were both sweaty and sticky, but neither one of them wanted to move.

Eventually, Louis rolled them so that they were both on their sides. “I have to clean you up,” he told Harry.

Harry shook his head and wrapped his arms around Louis’ neck, holding him closely.

Louis chuckled, but held on to Harry just as tightly. “Baby…”

“No. Just a few more minutes.”

“OK.”

As Louis heard Harry’s breathing even out, he gently pulled out and watched as his cum leaked out of Harry’s hole.

Harry mumbled in protest, but Louis just shushed him. “I’ll be right back,” he promised quietly.

He went to the bathroom and turned on the water in the sink, letting it warm up before soaking a washcloth in it. When he returned to the bedroom, Harry was out cold. Louis cleaned Harry up quickly, but carefully, and wiped his own chest off, as well.

He dropped the washcloth in his hamper and moved Harry so that his head was on a pillow and they were on the left side – the dry side – of the bed. He covered them up with the blanket, snuggled in behind Harry and soon fell asleep, as well.

 

**March 12, 2010**

 

Louis woke up to the feeling of someone’s fingertips trailing up his side.

He slowly opened his eyes to see Harry looking down at Louis’ abdomen, where his fingers were lightly writing letters into his skin.

He smiled, and waited until Harry looked up at his face. When he did, Harry smiled, too.

“Hi,” he whispered.

“Hi,” Louis whispered back.

“Um… So, about, um-”

“It was perfect,” Louis told him. “And amazing and beautiful and I’m so happy it finally happened.”

“Me, too. I wish it hadn’t taken us so long to get here.”

“So do I. But we got here, and that’s what’s important. And we have a long time to make up for the time we lost.”

Harry’s smile grew even wider before he quickly leaned in and kissed Louis again. Before they could take it any further, Liam and Niall came barging in, effectively interrupting them.

“A little privacy, please?” Louis lazily requested.

“Later,” Niall told them as Liam turned on the television. “You’ll want to see this.”

Harry and Louis sat up in bed as Liam eventually settled on a news station, which was running a breaking story.

“Once again,” the news broadcaster said, “Travis Rodriguez, a twenty-one-year-old from San Diego, California has escaped from police custody. He was arrested last night while trying to steal money from Rogue, a nightclub on Wilson Avenue, also in San Diego. At the scene, police officers shot Rodriguez in the shoulder in attempts to prevent him from getting away. However, while Rodriguez was in an ambulance headed for the hospital for his injury, it appears that the bullet fell out and did not leave any kind of mark behind.”

“Oh, no,” Louis said.

“‘Oh, no’ is right,” Niall replied.

“Rodriguez then kicked his way out of the ambulance and took off running, leaving paramedics stunned at what they just witnessed,” the anchor continued. “While it remains to be confirmed, all of the evidence points to Rodriguez being an immortal, making this the first sighting of anyone like him in nearly forty years, since the Dallas testings of 1973.”

“Fuck!” Louis yelled.

As the anchor continued, Louis asked, “Wait, why does he look familiar?”

They all looked at the picture of the kid, taken from the security cameras inside of the club. He was about 5’7”, with short, black curly hair and dark eyes. He was wearing a black sweatshirt and black jeans with a pair of Timberland boots to complete the look.

Louis remembered the face, but couldn’t place where he’d seen him before.

“Oh, my God,” Harry realized. “Lou… Remember the tunnel in Tijuana? Three years ago? It’s the kid; the one who whistled. He was the lookout!”

“Holy shit, you’re right. It’s the kid.”

“You remember him from another mission?” Liam asked.

Louis and Harry nodded.

“Awesome. Well, it looks like he’s of age now, and he’s screwing shit up for the rest of us.”

“If anyone sees Rodriguez, they are to alert authorities immediately,” the broadcaster concluded. “He is considered dangerous, but is not armed. With Channel Five News, I’m Allison Smith.”

Liam turned off the television. He turned to Louis and asked, “What do we do?”

Louis dropped his head into his hands and let out a long groan. After a moment, he looked up and simply said, “Pack. We’re going to San Diego.”

He flung the covers off him and headed for his closet.

“Well, we know how your date went,” Niall joked, slowly backing toward the door.

Louis looked down and remembered he hadn’t bothered to put any clothes on.

“Like we didn’t already know,” Liam muttered under his breath. “The neighbors probably heard them last night, anyway.”

“Fuck off!” Louis shouted. “We have to go! Now! Move it!”

Liam and Niall laughed, but ran down the hallway to their rooms as instructed.

“Liam, call Andy and tell him to get us everything he knows on Rodriguez!” he yelled as an afterthought.

Louis pulled a suitcase from the top shelf and started to throw clothes inside of it. Only after he was about halfway done did he look back to see Harry still sitting in the same position.

“Babe?” Louis asked. “Are you OK?”

Harry turned to look at Louis, worry clearly written across his face. “Louis, what do we do? We can’t be exposed to the world. Not now; not like this. People are going to start thinking we’re dangerous, and that we need to be captured and tested on. Again.”

“It’s OK. We’ll deal with this.” Louis returned to the bed and took Harry’s face in his hands. “We will be OK. We’ll find this kid, figure out what it is that he wants and shut him down. It can be done.”

“But what if he doesn’t want anything? What if he really does screw things up like Liam said?”

“He won’t,” Louis assured him.

“How do you know?”

“I just do. We all want something and we all have demands. We just need to figure out what the kid wants.”

“Louis, I’m scared,” Harry admitted. “I don’t… I don’t want to end up like the ones in Dallas. I don’t want to be examined and tested on-”

“And you won’t be,” Louis promised fiercely. “I won’t let that happen to you. I swear we will be fine.”

Harry just nodded. “OK.”

“OK. Now go pack. I have to find us tickets for the next flight to San Diego.”

“Kiss me?”

Louis ducked his head down and pressed his lips to Harry’s. The kiss was soft and gentle. It was reassuring, which was something that Harry desperately needed.

Louis only hoped that what he’d just told Harry was the truth.


	4. San Diego

**San Diego, California**

**March 13, 2010**

“OK, the first thing we need to do is talk to Andy and find out everything he knows about this Travis guy,” Louis instructed.

The four of them had just walked into their San Diego apartment. They boarded a flight from New York early this morning, so it was just before noon. They didn’t have any direct ties to San Diego law enforcement, but their good friend Andy was an extremely talented hacker who specialized in ‘searching’ police records.

He lived in Seattle, though, so they would need to Skype him to be better informed on the situation.

Liam sat down at their glass dining table and waited for his laptop’s Wi-Fi to link up before opening up a new Skype session. The others pushed their gray padded chairs as close to the computer screen as possible.

As promised, Andy was available, so Liam made the call.

“Hello, boys!” Andy greeted through the screen just a moment later.

“Andy, what have you done to your hair?” Liam wondered, taking in Andy’s shoulder-length dyed-blonde hair.

“You need a trim, man,” Louis joked.

“First off, Tommo: fuck you. Second, there’s a jungle man next to you who needs to schedule his haircut before me.”

“Hey,” Harry protested. “I’m not a jungle man. And Andy, I happened to think your hair looked good. I don’t think that any more.”

“Ouch,” Andy winced. “That hurts, Harry. Let me get some aloe.”

“Did you find out anything on the kid?” Niall asked, cutting off whatever reply Harry was about to come up with.

“I did. Look at you, Niall, getting down to business.”

Niall just shrugged.

Andy clicked around on his computer before starting to read. “OK, so… Travis Rodriguez from Logan Heights, a neighborhood in San Diego. He’s twenty-one, born February 5, 1989.”

“So he’s literally brand new,” Liam said, interrupting Andy. “Like, just born into this world.”

“We knew he couldn’t be that experienced, not with getting caught in such a big spot,” Louis reminded him.

“Yeah, but he’s been immortal for a _month_. How stupid do you have to be to rob an exclusive club like this just thirty days in?”

The others didn’t have an answer for him.

“Can I continue?” Andy asked.

Louis nodded. “Sorry. Go ahead.”

“OK. Here’s what happened. Travis tried to rob this club, Rogue, and he got caught.”

Harry snorted.

“What?” Louis wondered.

“Nothing, it’s just… Rogue. That’s a Bennett-owned nightclub.”

“It is?”

“Yeah, I, uh… I stole money from them a few years ago. Before I hit the one in New York.”

“They really need to up their security system,” Niall said.

“Probably.”

“Anyway!” Andy cut in. “As I was saying, Travis tried to rob the club, and a member of security caught him when he was leaving the office. He grabbed him and dragged him out to the main floor, where he then called the cops. When police arrived on the scene, they put the handcuffs on him and escorted him to the car. The problem is, Rodriguez got the cuffs off and made a break for it. Cop shot him, he was put in the ambulance to be taken to the hospital, and you know the rest.”

“Maybe he didn’t realize getting shot was actually going to hurt,” Niall thought.

“Could be,” Liam agreed. “People tend to get the whole ‘immortal’ and ‘indestructible’ concepts mixed up.”

“Why did he pick this club?” Louis asked. “And was this his first hit or has he gotten to other places before?”

“Well, Travis is from San Diego, which explains the location,” Andy answered. “He’s probably familiar with the area and maybe he’s been in the club before. As for whether or not he’s hit other places, there’s nothing on record. Actually, that’s something strange. He has a lot of arrests to his name from the time he was fifteen up until the week before his eighteenth birthday. After that, there’s nothing. So either he stopped committing crimes, or he just stopped getting caught. My money’s on the latter.”

“What were the arrests for?” Louis asked.

“Take your pick. Stealing purses, breaking and entering, destruction of property, grand theft auto and so on and so forth. Racked up quite a lot of fees for his parents, by the way, who helped him out of each and every situation.”

“Where are his parents now?” Liam wondered.

“They still live in Logan Heights, a place where the residents aren’t exactly known for their sweater vests or bake sales for the PTA. Dad works in construction and Mom is an administrative assistant. It didn’t give them a whole lot of extra cash to keep putting their kid through juvie.”

“Damn. This kid’s had a rough life.”

“Oh no, it gets better: your boy’s in a gang,” Andy revealed.

“What?” the other four men said in unison.

“Yup. It’s called the Logan Heights Gang, which originated in – you guessed it – Logan Heights.”

“We first met this kid a few years back when he was involved in a drug haul,” Niall explained. “It was in an underground tunnel that went from the US to Mexico. How many drug connections does this place or gang have?”

“Tons,” Andy answered. “It all started in 1992, when someone from Logan Heights helped members from another gang, Tijuana Cartel, get out of a club that was being shot up. Ever since then, they’ve worked together in huge drug smugglings.”

“Any chance they would use tunnels to do these smugglings?” Liam asked.

Andy gave him a thumbs-up. “You’re quick. So that bust you made was likely for them, for one of their hauls.”

“OK. What else?”

Andy continued. “Travis was a lookout for his boys when they went on huge cases. But he was also a skilled pickpocket and lock picker, hence his ability to enter the club without being noticed immediately. I’m guessing that’s his ability now that he’s immortal? He can get into anything or open any lock?”

Niall whistled lowly. “Hell of a skill.”

“Too bad it’s in the wrong hands,” Liam said quietly.

Louis nodded. “That would explain how he was able to get into the office and the club’s safe.”

“And out of the handcuffs,” Niall added. “He needed some kind of ability to do that.”

“So why would he need to rob a nightclub?” Harry wanted to know. “He’s clearly being taken care of by this gang and he’s probably pulling in a decent amount of money thanks to the drug deals. What did he have to do this for?”

Andy shrugged. “That’s something I really can’t answer. Maybe it was an initiation ritual? A way to prove his loyalty?”

“Speaking of loyalty, why did he get arrested alone?” Louis asked. “Did he refuse to snitch on his buddies? Was there anybody else involved in this?”

“Well, here’s what I have,” Andy started. “There was nobody else there; just him. Security cameras don’t show anyone else with Travis or anywhere near the building. When he was arrested, he didn’t have any wires on him. Truth be told, he really didn’t need anyone’s help to pull off the job he attempted yesterday. If he can open any lock, why would he need someone else there? That just splits the profits up. So, it looks to me that he was acting alone. The reason for which, I still can’t figure out.”

“Maybe he owes a lot of money to someone higher up?” Harry speculated.

“Your guess is as good as mine, H. I’ll keep an eye on the databases and see if he’s arrested anywhere else. Maybe they can get a motive out of him.”

“You’ll keep us informed of anything else you find out?” Niall asked.

“Of course.”

“Can you send us the footage from the club’s camera?” Liam wanted to know.

“Sure. Give me a second.”

Andy clicked around on his computer a few times before saying, “Just sent the file to your emails.”

“Thanks, Andy,” Louis said. “Anything else?”

“Nothing of real importance. He dropped out of high school to be more involved with the gang… Um- Oh, wait! He had an older brother named Trevor who was also in the gang, but he was killed a few months ago in a drug deal gone bad down in Mexico City.”

Niall scoffed. “So it’s a family affair?”

“I guess so. The same kind of stuff that’s on Travis’ record is on the brother’s, by the way.”

“Do you have an address, Andy?” Louis wondered.

Andy shook his head. “Negative. There’s nothing listed. Considering he’s a gang member, it’s really not surprising.”

“Well thank you for everything,” Harry said honestly. “We really do appreciate it.”

“Of course. If you need me to search any other keywords or records, let me know, boys.”

“Can you look up some of the other gang members?” Louis asked. “Whatever you can find: names, addresses, meeting spots, that sort of thing.”

“On it. I’ll contact you tonight.”

“Thanks, Andy. It’s a pleasure as always,” Liam told him.

“Godspeed, gentlemen. Good luck; not that you’ll need it.”

Liam ended the call and opened his email to see the footage from the club’s security camera.

He let it load up and then hit ‘Play.’

The recording started with a view of the fire exit. Travis, with a black book bag slung over his shoulder, entered the building easily and walked up through the back hallways toward an office. With a quick look around, he placed his hand on the doorknob and went inside the room.

He emerged minutes later, his book bag looking significantly heavier. As he walked out of the room, he looked alarmed at something to his left, and started running to his right, where the fire exit was. Another figure followed behind him, grabbing Rodriguez before he could get away. This figure pulled Rodriguez back down the hallway and off-screen.

The footage ended there.

“That must’ve been when they dragged him out to the club and called the cops,” Niall said.

“So what do we do now?” Liam asked in a frustrated tone. “We don’t know where this guy is or where he lives. San Diego is a big city; he could be anywhere.”

“OK, calm down. Let’s give Andy a few hours to see what else he can dig up,” Louis mollified. “I say we wait for now. Maybe this kid will get himself busted. He’s new to all of this and a little impulsive. Reminds me of a certain someone who was the same way not too long ago.”

“Hey!” Harry protested. “I wasn’t as bad as this kid. I never got myself arrested and had my face shown across national news.”

“No, just nearly got yourself shot on multiple occasions.”

“So when Andy comes back with some information,” Liam cut in, “what do we do? Question some of the other gang members and see if they give him up?”

“That’s exactly what we do,” Louis told him. “Harry, you’re up this time. I’m sure one of them is a cocky little shit who would love nothing more than to brag all about how he helped his boy Travis hide from the feds.”

“You think so?” Harry wondered.

Louis shrugged. “Seems likely. And until we get another lead on the kid’s whereabouts, it’s the only plan we’ve got.”

Harry nodded. “Good. No pressure, then.”

 

**March 14, 2010**

 

The next day, two things happened.

First, Harry got the information they needed from some of Travis’ fellow gang members.

Second, they found Travis.

Thanks to Andy, they found out that a few of the younger members hung out in a tattoo parlor near Commercial Street.

Harry walked into the shop, sticking out like a sore thumb in his black skinny jeans, black T-shirt and tan suede Chelsea boots.

The three men already inside, all of whom belonging to the Logan Heights Gang, watched him enter with extreme caution.

“Hola, gringo,” one of them said in a thick Spanish accent. Thanks to Andy’s research, Harry recognized him as José Figueroa, a member who had been in the gang for nearly ten years. The other two were Alejandro and Antonio Castillo-Perez, brothers who had gone through their initiation a few years ago.

“Hi,” Harry said back.

“You need something?”

Harry gestured to the dark walls, where hundreds of designs were displayed for examination. “Thinking about getting a tattoo. Not sure what I want, though. I’ve heard you’re quite good.”

José shrugged. “I’m all right.”

It wasn’t the reaction Harry was hoping for, so he just nodded and continued looking.

“You design all these yourself?” he asked, moving to the next wall.

“Of course.”

“You’re pretty talented,” Harry praised. He was currently looking at a design of a black panther. It was long and lean, with one paw extended forward and its tail going back and curling at the end.

José shrugged again and repeated, “I’m all right.”

“Where are you from, man?” one of the brothers asked Harry. He couldn’t remember which one it was. “I’ve never seen you around here before.”

“Just passing through,” Harry answered.

“That’s pretty obvious, man,” the other brother said.

“Oi, Tonio,” José warned. “Let the man look. He’s just _passing through_.”

The three of them laughed like it was some private joke that Harry wasn’t allowed to understand.

Harry rolled his eyes. They weren’t giving him anything to work with. This was more difficult than he thought it would be.

“I was over at Cartero’s yesterday,” Harry casually mentioned. Immediately, he felt the tension in the room thicken. Cartero’s was owned by a rival gang, the North Hollywood Boyz. It wasn’t a surprise that the other men became cautious at the mention of it.

“Oh, yeah?” José asked.

“Yeah. Have you ever been?”

“No.”

“Good. Their drawings are shit. Yours are way better than anything they could come up with.”

The tension in the room dropped just as quickly as it had risen. Fortunately for Harry, a small amount of pride from the other men appeared. It was subtle, but it was there.

_Bingo._

Harry jumped on it, tapping into the pride the men felt for their superiority over another gang and built it up, hoping to get an answer out of them about where Travis might be.

Over the years, Harry had gotten much better at using his ability on multiple people, as well as being able to do it without establishing or maintaining eye contact. It was wonderful what a little practice could do.

“You could probably give them lessons on how to design excellent tattoos,” Harry continued. He looked over his shoulder and saw that all three men had purple glows in their eyes. “Theirs look like kids drew them.”

“We could give ‘em lessons on a lot of things,” Alejandro muttered.

“Well, you are superior to them in every way, aren’t you?”

Harry knew he was laying it on a little thick, but he didn’t really feel like hanging around these guys any longer than he had to.

“Of course we are,” José said, puffing his chest out a little bit.

“Yeah, you run these streets, don’t you?” Harry asked.

“Hell yeah, we do,” Antonio replied.

“You know the game better than anyone, right?”

“Yeah, yeah,” the three of them repeated, starting to get riled up.

“You look out for your own? You have each other’s backs?”

“Fuck, yeah!” José yelled. “Ride or die; that’s Logan Heights!”

“Like your boy Travis, right?” Harry said. “You looked out for him the best? Probably gave him advice on where to go when he got in trouble, too.”

Harry could sense the slight hesitation in all of them, in the backs of their minds. Their pride, however, wouldn’t let them shut up.

“Of course,” Antonio answered. “That’s our boy. He got in some trouble but he’ll be all right.”

“Who do you think told him to hide downstairs?” Alejandro asked.

_Bingo._

“You?”

“See, the policía,” José started to say, “they’re too dumb to look at what’s right under their noses. They never thought to check here because we’re clearly on his side. They don’t think he’s dumb enough to hide in a place so obvious. Well, the joke’s on them. [Pinche idiotas](http://mexican-slang.blogspot.com/2010/02/pinche-idiota.html).”

“And he’s been here the whole time! Genius,” Harry praised. “You guys are clever.”

“Yeah, we’re all right,” José said with a laugh. The other men joined in with him.

Harry rolled his eyes and heard the door open again.

He looked over his shoulder and saw that it was Liam, which was unsurprising since he had been listening from outside of the building.

Immediately, Liam wiped their memories of ever having seen them, and accompanied Harry to the back of the shop to find a way to get to the downstairs part of the building. Before they could even begin to look, however, they heard a backdoor swinging open.

Without hesitation, Liam and Harry took off, following the noise. They ran toward the back of the shop and turned right. Straight ahead of them was an open door, no doubt the one that Travis had just escaped through.

They hurriedly exited the building and found themselves in an alley.

“This way!” Liam yelled. He pointed toward the right and saw Travis running away from them. They started after him.

It was clear that Travis knew the area well as he made his way through the back alleys of the neighborhood. Liam and Harry stayed on his trail, but just barely.

Just when they turned a corner, Travis would turn another one.

At one point, they reached what should have been a dead end. But because Travis knew the area and had speed on his side, he was able to keep moving.

Ahead of them was a dumpster, sitting in front of a wire fence that was easily more than ten feet tall. Travis ran straight at the dumpster. At the last second, he changed angles to run toward the wall, used one foot to kick off it and propelled himself through the air, landing on the dumpster. From there, Travis was able to climb up the fence.

At least, that’s what would’ve happened if Liam didn’t swing his arm out to the side to move the dumpster out of the way.

Travis didn’t plan on that, so he landed awkwardly on the fence, much lower than he planned on being, giving Harry and Liam time to catch up to him.

Liam moved the dumpster back to where it went, and performed the stunt Travis had attempted. He ran up to the wall, and without stopping, lifted one foot up and kicked himself off it, landing on the dumpster. He quickly climbed the fence, and grabbed Travis’ leg as they both reached the top.

“Get off me!” Travis yelled, trying to get away.

Liam held on tightly, though, even as Travis was halfway over the fence. Their struggling resulted in both of them falling over the other side and getting the wind knocked out of them.

Liam wrestled his way on top of Travis, who was still attempting to escape them.

“Get the fuck off me!” Travis yelled.

“Liam, shut him up!” Harry encouraged as he climbed the fence to join them.

Without a word, Liam wound his arm back and punched Travis in the head, knocking him out.

Both Liam and Harry were breathing heavy, the chase stealing most of their energy.

“Let me call Louis and tell him to swing the car around to pick us up,” Harry said, pulling out his cell phone.

“Good,” Liam replied. “I’m exhausted.”

\---

Harry stood in the bathroom, as Travis lay in the tub, still unconscious.

Grinning, he turned the water on and made it ice cold.

Within seconds, Travis was stirring, and before Harry knew it, Travis was jumping up, yelling about how cold he was.

“Be careful!” Harry warned. “The floor’s a little-”

He didn’t have to finish his sentence, as Travis went crashing to the floor, slipping on the tile in the tub.

“-wet,” Harry said anyway.

“What the hell is going on?” Travis asked, pushing himself into a sitting position.

“It’s all right. I understand. I found myself in this same position like, three years ago.”

Harry turned the water off and he and Travis just stared at each other.

“What the hell do you want?” Travis wanted to know.

“Oh, that’s no fun. No, no, no. Here. Look.” Harry pointed to the counter, where a pile of dry clothes sat. “Get changed and meet us outside. We’ll explain everything to you there.”

“Us? You mean you and that other guy who was chasing me?”

“And a few others. Niall and Louis are really nice. I promise. Now get dressed.”

Harry smiled and walked out of the room.

He found the others sitting in the kitchen, waiting for him.

“Well?” Louis asked.

“I see why you guys put me in the tub all those years ago,” Harry answered. “It was fun.”

“Is he getting dressed?” Liam wondered.

“I think so. We’ll see, won’t we?”

The four of them sat and waited, hearing the bathroom door open just a few minutes later.

“Showtime,” Niall whispered.

The four of them stood up and walked out to the living room.

“Leaving so soon?” Louis asked, seeing Travis trying to get to the front door.

“Look,” Travis said, turning around with a frown on his face, “I don’t know who you guys are or what you want, but let me go. Now.”

“Or what? Look, we just want to talk to you about your whole lock picking trick. That’s all.”

“My what?” Travis asked.

“You know, how you put your hands on a lock or, let’s say, a safe, and it just opens for you? Or should we start with how you’re immortal and you completely fucked things up for us by getting caught?”

“Reel it in, Lou,” Harry whispered.

“Oh,” Louis said. “Sorry. Anyway, let’s talk.”

“I don’t even know you people,” Travis replied. “And I don’t know how you know that about me, but fuck off.”

“Oh, but you do know us, Travis! You do. Let me refresh your memory. It was January 2007. There was an underground tunnel, lots of drugs and we got your friend Ramirez arrested. Remember how you whistled to let your boys know we were coming and, oh, yeah… You got me shot, you fucker!”

“I didn’t shoot you!”

“No, but because Ramirez knew we were there, he fucking shot me!” Louis said.

“Well you should’ve stayed out of our fucking tunnel, then!”

“Oh, you know what-”

“OK!” Liam said, interrupting the fight that was about to happen. “What Louis means to say is that you do know us and we’re immortal just like you. The problem is that you’re still so new that you got sloppy and got caught on the job. You were shot, arrested and almost immediately identified as immortal, which is a big no-no if you’re trying to avoid scientific research.”

“You seem like a smart kid, so that can’t be what you want,” Niall continued. “So what is it that you want? Money? Loyalty? You trying to prove something to your boys? Were you just testing the waters to see what you could do?”

“Fuck you,” Travis repeated. “I don’t owe you shit.”

“No, you don’t owe us anything,” Harry agreed. “But, there is the small fact that the entire country, if not the world, knows who you are and what you can do. You really think your life will be unaffected because of that?”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Oh, yeah? You and your boys, right? Because you have each other’s backs? You think that’s going to hold up when people show up to take you away? People with guns and weapons that will overpower you much easier than we did?”

“I’ll be fine,” Travis growled.

“And if you’re not? Then what?”

“That won’t happen to me!”

“But what if it does, Travis?” Harry asked. He was nearly yelling now. “What if it does? And you’re hooked up to all kinds of machines monitoring your blood pressure and chromosomes and heart rate and genetic makeup? What then? You’ll be wishing you ran away when all of this shit went down.”

“I won’t!”

“Yes, you will! Because we all have and we’ve all done it! We’ve all run away from home, leaving everything behind. But you can’t, can you? At least, not yet, because you have your boys here to think about and you have your parents, too!”

Leading up to this, the other men had been confused at what point Harry was trying to make. But once he mentioned parents, it hit them immediately.

Travis didn’t have a comeback for that one. Instead, he tensed up, holding his breath for what was coming next.

“You were stealing it for them, weren’t you?” Harry asked quietly.

Travis still didn’t say anything, so Harry continued.

“You want to run away, don’t you? Because you know what could happen if certain people find you. But you can’t leave them because… Why? Tell us.”

“You don’t know shit,” Travis said. He was clearly trying to be threatening, but it was coming out more fearful and worrisome than anything else.

“I think I know more than what you’re comfortable with. So why don’t you sit down and tell us the whole story so we can help you.”

Travis stood perfectly still. The only thing moving were his eyes, which were bouncing between each of the four men in front of him.

“Would it make you more comfortable if we showed you what we could do?” Louis offered. “To show you we’re legit?”

Travis nodded slowly.

“Thought so.” Louis turned to his right and said, “OK, Liam. You’re up.”

\---

“There’s nothing left for me here anymore,” Travis started. It was a half hour later, and now that Travis had seen and partially experienced the abilities of the other men, he felt a little better about where he was.

“My parents want nothing to do with me,” Travis continued. “They’ve paid for my court fees and lawyer fees and taken me to so many community service hours that I can’t even begin to figure out how much I’ve cost them. And I used to have my brother, but he died in October. Someone else in the LH killed him.”

“I thought it was a drug deal gone bad?” Liam asked.

Travis scoffed. “No. It was murder. Someone killed him because Trev was starting to take on a more active role and they didn’t like that. I’m not sure exactly who it was, but when I do… Which brings me to the LH. I want out. They killed my brother; I can’t be with them anymore. But, I’m not strong enough to go through the process.”

“There’s a process to leave a gang?” Harry asked.

“Oh, yeah. The process to get initiated is bad, but the process to leave is way worse. I just don’t think I could.”

“So what’s your plan?” Louis asked. “Leave the gang and then what?”

“Well, I did want to get the money for my parents,” Travis explained. “They always wanted a better life for us, but never had the cash. Plus, my stupid ass didn’t help them any. So I want to pay off their bills and then get them a new house somewhere else, somewhere far away from here.”

“Why?” Niall wanted to know.

“To protect them. Because once I hightail it out of here, the LH will try to find me. And they’ll go to my parents first. I don’t want to think about what they’ll do to them if they find them.”

Louis nodded. “What else do you want to do?”

“That’s it. Get all three of us out of this shithole and never look back. I won’t go with them. They don’t know what I’ve been up to these past few years, and I’d like to keep it that way. It’ll probably be safer for them, too.”

Louis looked between Harry, Niall and Liam. All three of them looked as shocked as he felt. This wasn’t even close to what they were expecting when they set out to find Travis.

“So, to recap, you want the money to pay your parents back for everything they’ve done for you,” Niall said. “You want to get them out of the city, you want out of your gang and you want to get out of here, too?”

“That was the plan,” Travis replied.

“Until you got caught.”

“Until I got caught.”

“What do you plan on doing once you’re out of here?”

Travis shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t really thought that far ahead.”

“You plan on robbing any more clubs?” Harry asked. “Or banks or anything like that?”

Travis shook his head. “I was never one to do the stealing… Obviously. I just kept my eyes open and told the others when we had to get our asses out of there.”

“And why should we trust you?” Louis wanted to know. “I mean, how do we know you won’t just go on a massive robbing spree once you’re out of here?”

“Honestly? You don’t. But don’t forget that the entire country knows who I am. You really think that I’m about to put myself at risk like that? No way. _Everyone_ is going to be looking out for me.”

“Not if you’re dead,” Harry spoke softly.

The others looked at Harry with confused looks on their faces.

“Uh, I think you missed the point of this entire conversation, amigo,” Travis told him.

“No. Just, hear me out. OK? We wait a while. You lay low. Nobody sees you or hears from you or knows where you are. You disappear without a trace. In a little while, let’s say a month, we have Sophia go on air making a statement that her team found your body somewhere in New York and that you being able to escape from that ambulance was the result of some kind of adrenaline rush you were under or some kind of reaction to a drug you took. As long as you’re not seen, then people will believe that you made it to the East Coast in a month and if you’re dead, then that means you can’t possibly be immortal. People will forget about you, and eventually, stop thinking about immortals, securing our safety once again.”

“It could work,” Niall said after a few minutes of silence.

“It really could,” Louis agreed. “That would also give you a chance at a fresh start, as long as you don’t get caught doing something stupid again.”

“I won’t,” Travis told them. “I swear on my life.”

“That really doesn’t hold as much weight as it should.”

“Anyway,” Liam said, “what do we do next? There’s still the matter of getting the money for the kid’s parents. Where are you getting it from?”

Travis looked among the other men, quickly getting the idea that they wouldn’t like it if he said he would steal it from someone else.

“I mean, we could just give it to him,” Niall quietly suggested.

“No,” Travis immediately said. “No way in hell am I taking your pity money.”

“Why not?” Louis asked, a little offended at the kid’s refusal of their money.

“Because then you’ll own me. You’ll always have that hovering over my head and I’ll always owe you something. Fuck that shit.”

“That’s not who we are,” Niall told him.

“That’s what they all say. I’ll find another way.”

“I’ll help you,” Harry offered.

Louis, Liam and Niall quickly turned to look at him.

“You’ll what?” Louis asked.

“Yeah, Harry. You’ll what?” Liam wanted to know.

“I’ll help you. I know a place where we can get the money.”

Louis raised his eyebrows. “Can I talk to you for a second, please?”

Without giving Harry a second to think about it, he grabbed his hand and pulled him to the kitchen. Niall was right behind them.

“Don’t go anywhere,” Liam threatened before following them.

“Even if I tried to leave, you’d just find me anyway,” Travis muttered.

“What are you doing?” Louis demanded, crowding Harry against the fridge.

“We’re so close to having this situation taken care of!” Harry answered. “You said everyone has something they want and that we have to figure out what his motive is. He wants money to get his parents out of town. Why can’t we do that for him?”

“Because it would be stealing, Harry,” Liam said. “We don’t steal money from innocent people.”

“So take it from someone who’s not innocent.”

Louis shook his head. “No. You’re not going back to what you used to do three years ago.”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s not what we do! That’s not our business.”

“What business? People aren’t even supposed to know we exist, Louis!” Harry hissed. “Remember? As far as the world knows, we died when we were twenty-one.”

Louis pinched the bridge of his nose. “Harry…”

“No, Louis. He’s trying to protect his family. He’s already lost his brother; his parents are all he has left and he wants to keep them safe. What’s so wrong with that?”

Louis took a deep breath. He understood where Harry was coming from, as they had had multiple conversations over the years about missing their own families, but he wasn’t about to encourage Harry to go back to manipulating people for money like he did when they first met.

“Do it,” Liam said.

“What?” Louis and Harry asked in unison.

“Do it,” Liam repeated. “If this will make sure this kid doesn’t get in any more trouble and keeps his immortality – and ours – under wraps, then do it.”

“I’m in,” Niall agreed. “We need to do something.”

They looked to Louis for the final word.

He just rolled his eyes. “I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

Harry shook his head. “Not really, babe.”

Louis sighed. “OK. What’s the plan?”

“I’ll figure it out. But first, we have to make sure we’re all on the same page.”

"Can I just point out that we really didn't need to leave the room for this?" Niall asked. "I mean, he's like us. He heard every word we said anyway." 

"Yeah, I did," they heard Travis say from the living room. 

Harry rolled his eyes and led them out of the kitchen. They returned to the living room, where Travis was still waiting on the couch.

“If we help you,” Harry started saying, “you play by our rules. When the job is done, and your parents are safely far away from here, then you are, too, never to return and never to put yourself back in the public eye. Clear?”

Travis nodded. “Clear.”

“Good. Now let’s figure out this plan.”

 

**Los Angeles**

**March 16, 2010**

 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Louis asked Harry one more time before he got out of the car.

“I’m sure,” Harry answered. “Just keep an ear and eye out for anything sketchy.”

“Of course.”

They smiled at each other and were about to lean in when they remembered where they were. They both looked in the backseat of their SUV and saw Liam, Travis and Niall sitting there, watching them with annoyed expressions.

“Hurry up,” Liam said.

With their friends’ approval, Louis and Harry went in for the kiss, their lips lingering for just a moment before pulling apart.

“See you in there,” Harry told them.

He stepped out of the car. As he shut the door, he heard Travis ask, “You guys date each other, too?”

“Shut up,” Louis replied.

Harry walked down the street and turned the corner, seeing his destination just a few buildings ahead of him: Slaughterhouse Bar and Grill, a place that appeared to be a regular restaurant and pub, but housed a secret gambling facility in the basement.

It was a place that Harry had heard about when he was in the area years ago, but had never visited until today.

He entered the building and saw that it was crowded for a Tuesday night. Most of the tables were occupied, and there were only a few available seats at the bar. Harry took one of those seats and looked around, searching for the manager of the restaurant and also the man in charge of the gambling ring.

The bartender came up and asked if he wanted anything to drink.

“Oh, I’m actually waiting for someone first,” Harry told her. “Is it OK if I sit here for a minute?”

“Of course,” she told him. “Let me know if you change your mind.”

“I will. Thank you.”

He smiled at her for added effect, and could tell she was charmed. Her extra long stare at his chest, which was easily visible due to his half-buttoned shirt, did a lot to convince him of that, as well.

He saw his target, Max Mitchell, emerge from the kitchen carrying a tray of food. He took the order to a table in the back of the restaurant. Harry waited to see if Mitchell would come his way, but the other man just hurriedly went back to the kitchen.

Five minutes later, Harry saw Liam and Niall come in and request a table. They were given one near the bar, and they could easily see everything that happened. Immediately, Harry felt a sense of calm fall over the place, and he knew that Liam was using his ability to make everyone overlook anything they may hear. For example, a plate of food falling to the floor.

Soon after, Louis walked in and sat at the bar across from Harry. He declined a drink when the bartender asked him, as well.

Harry stayed in his seat, even after people on either side of him got up and left. When Mitchell came out again, he was carrying more food, and because he was headed in Harry’s direction, he knew it was time to make his move. As Mitchell approached him, Harry quickly stood up and turned so that he crashed right into him.

Some of what Mitchell was carrying fell down to the floor, but a lot of it, including the pasta he had on the tray, landed right on Harry’s clothes.

“I’m so sorry!” Mitchell immediately said. Harry put on his best ‘stunned’ expression and acted as if he didn’t know what to do.

Mitchell signaled to a busboy, who looked confused as to how he didn’t hear the plates crashing to the ground. Mitchell snapped his fingers again and the boy ran to the back, likely to find a mop, broom and dustpan.

“Here, let’s go get you cleaned up,” Mitchell offered.

“Oh, no,” Harry said, holding up a hand. “It’s fine. Really.”

“I insist. Come on. Just be careful; don’t step on any glass.”

Mitchell took Harry’s hand and led him toward the bathrooms.

As soon as they were in there, Harry jumped into action.

“I can’t believe I did that. I’m so sorry.”

“No, it’s really my fault,” Max told him. He grabbed a bunch of paper towels and wet them with water from the sink. “I should’ve been watching where I was going.”

“You’re really sweet,” Harry said. He took the paper towels from Max and started to wipe the tomato sauce off his shirt. Luckily, it was an old one, and he didn’t really care about smearing the sauce into it.

“Thanks.”

“Cute, too,” Harry added as he started to wipe at the food on his chest. He did it very slowly, watching Max the entire time. He didn’t miss it when Max’s eyes followed Harry’s fingers start to undo the last buttons on his shirt.

He could see the lust in Max’s eyes as they raked over Harry’s chest, and Harry used that to his advantage, waiting until the blue glow showed up around his irises before saying his next statement.

“Is there anywhere more private we could go?” he whispered. “Like, an office, or… a basement?”

Max nodded quickly and took Harry’s hand again, pulling him from the bathroom. Harry tossed his paper towels in the trash on the way out.

As he walked, he located Louis and nodded once at him.

Louis nodded back and stood up, following slowly behind him. Once he knew exactly where the basement’s entrance was, he could point it out to Travis, who was waiting outside next to the emergency exit. It eliminated the need for Travis to actually be inside of the building where anybody could easily see and report him.

Max brought Harry to a door that said ‘Employees Only’ on the front. He punched in a code and it unlocked for them.

Once inside of the room, Max led him to another door. This one was unmarked. Max pulled a key from out of his pocket and unlocked it as well.

In front of them was a black, spiral staircase, and Harry wanted to laugh at how cliché this all was so far.

They descended the steps, and Harry found himself in a huge, open room, set up with about a dozen poker tables and four blackjack tables. There was also a fully stocked bar that ran the entire length of the back wall. Harry knew that only people with real cash to spend came here, so if there was any money to be found, it would be here.

Max pushed Harry down to the couch in the back corner of the room and said, “Nobody knows about this place. It’s all ours.”

Then he climbed on top of Harry and attacked his neck, kissing and biting up the side.

Harry wrinkled his nose and pulled away.

“You know what gets me really hot?” Harry asked as Max moved down to his collarbones. “Successful guys.”

Max nodded rapidly before kissing Harry. “I’m really successful. God, you’re so fucking hot,” he said. Then he kissed him again.

“How successful are you?” Harry wondered.

“Really successful,” Max growled before kissing down his chest.

“Really? Doesn’t look like it.”

It was almost too easy how Max’s pride overtook his lust. “What?”

“Yeah… You probably don’t make that much money or have that many clients, do you?”

Max scoffed. “I’ll have you know this place is packed every night it’s open. I make more money than I know what to do with.”

“Oh, yeah? Prove it,” Harry said.

“Prove it? All right. Sit right here, then.”

Max got up and went behind the bar and knelt down. Harry listened closely, hearing him spinning the dial on a lock.

Ignoring Max’s instructions to wait on the couch, Harry went over to see what he was doing. He saw Max kneeling on the ground. He had just pulled up a panel of the tile floor, revealing a hidden safe.

Harry gave him extra points for creativity. At least Max didn’t keep his money hidden behind a sliding picture, like Bennett had.

He watched as Max opened the door to the safe, revealing stacks of cash.

_Bingo._

Max pulled out some money and tossed it on the counter. “How’s that for unsuccessful?” he asked.

Harry smiled. “You proved me wrong, babe. And you know, there’s a lot more still to be made upstairs. You have all of those paying customers just waiting to place orders and give you their money.”

The glow in Max’s eyes shifted to yellow, as his greed was starting to take over.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“You better get to them quick. Wouldn’t want them to spend their money elsewhere.”

Max nodded and hurried up the stairs, not giving Harry a second thought.

Harry rolled his eyes once the door closed.

“Travis!” he called out. He didn’t have to be that loud about it. He knew Travis would hear him, even over the crowd upstairs.

A moment later, the door opened again, and Travis came down the steps, his black book bag slung over his shoulder.

“Where is it?” he asked.

“Right here,” Harry answered, pointing down toward the floor behind the bar.

Travis walked over and looked at the safe, still open as Max rushed out of the room before closing it.

Travis let out a low whistle. “Damn, that’s a lot of money.”

“Don’t be greedy about it,” Harry said. “Get what you need and let’s go.”

Travis nodded and started stuffing his backpack with money.

Once he was done, he locked the safe and covered it up with the floor tile.

“Let’s go,” Harry told him.

“Liam wiped Max’s memory of us when he came back upstairs,” Travis said as they walked away from the bar. “So that’s all taken care of.”

“Good. One less thing to worry about.”

“So you guys do this kind of stuff all the time?” Travis wondered. They started walking up the steps.

“Not this, exactly. Usually there’s a lot more action, like down there in that tunnel.”

“I am sorry for getting your boyfriend shot, by the way. I was just following orders.”

“I know,” Harry told him. “But thanks.”

He didn’t bother correcting Travis for calling Louis his boyfriend. They weren’t officially boyfriends yet, but in all honestly, it was only a matter of time.

Plus, Harry just liked how it sounded.

\---

When they got home, they quickly totaled up the money and found that they had almost two hundred thousand dollars.

“That should be good, right?” Louis asked.

Travis nodded. “Yeah. This is… More than what I thought was possible. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

\---

Travis and the money were gone the next morning.

It wasn’t like it was a surprise. The plan very clearly stated that Travis needed to go under the radar, never to be seen or heard from again.

He was holding up his end of the bargain, and in a month, everything would be taken care of.

 

**New York City**

**April 23, 2010**

Louis, Harry, Niall and Liam gathered around the television in their living room waiting for the news to come on.

Today was the day when Sophia would announce Travis’ ‘death,’ and needless to say, all four of them were on edge, waiting for the end result.

A few days ago, Andy had told them that Travis’ parents no longer lived in Logan Heights, and had actually moved up to Oregon. So far, everything was falling into place.

When the broadcast started, Louis turned the volume up to make sure they didn’t miss a single word.

“Breaking News right now,” the newscaster said seriously. “We have just received word that very early this morning, police found the body of Travis Rodriguez, a suspected immortal from San Diego who escaped police custody just six weeks ago. We are joining Chief of Department Stephen Smith live in New York.”

“At approximately 11:33 last night,” Stephen started to say, “my team and I received an anonymous phone call about Travis Rodriguez, who has been on our most wanted list since last month. It was the first one we’d received that had actual facts to support it, so we followed the lead. At 2:12 this morning, we found Rodriguez dead at the scene due to an apparent drug overdose. My daughter, Sophia Smith, was the person who actually found him, so I’ll allow her to continue.”

He stepped back from the podium and Sophia, who had been standing a few steps behind him, took his place. ‘Captain Sophia Smith’ displayed on the screen as she began speaking.

“On the evening of March 11, 2010, Travis Rodriguez was arrested in San Diego for attempting to steal money from a local nightclub. He was shot at the scene and was put into an ambulance for his injuries after being questioned. However, after that ambulance drove off, Rodriguez kicked his way out of it and escaped. The paramedics reported seeing the bullet seemingly fall out of Rodriguez’s shoulder, which made them, and the rest of us, believe that Rodriguez was an immortal. But after finding his body last night, it would seem that’s not the case.”

The four men watched Sophia say the words they had written for her, since this entire news broadcast was a complete lie.

“We’re still investigating how Rodriguez was able to escape the ambulance, as well as how the bullet came out of his shoulder. We suspect drug use, which could have led to heightened senses and awareness. No matter what, one thing is clear: Travis Rodriguez was not an immortal, meaning that the last sighting of one was still in Dallas in 1973. Immortals may or may not still walk this earth; it is unclear as we haven’t seen any in nearly forty years. And after this, it is unlikely we ever will again. Thank you very much, and I’ll return the podium to my father.”

Sophia returned to her previous spot and Stephen asked the reporters if they had any questions.

Liam turned it off then.

“So, we’re good?” he asked.

“I think so,” Louis said. “I mean, we’ll still be talked about for a little while, but I think it’ll die down soon enough.”

“So what now?” Harry asked.

“Now, we continue to blend in to the background,” Louis answered. “We don’t stand out, we don’t draw attention to ourselves and we definitely make sure that we alter the memories of anyone who sees us in action.”

They all nodded, knowing that if they wanted to continue living in peace, they had to make sure their true identities remained under wraps.

The last thing they needed was for another person like Travis to remind people of immortals by broadcasting it on a national scale. The world already knew about the existence of immortals; it was different when people were actively researching and looking for them.

Liam’s phone started to ring, so he quickly answered.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Li. Did you watch the news?” Sophia asked.

“Sure did, Smithers. Thank you for doing that,” Liam said honestly.

“You’re very welcome. Anything to help out my favorite immortals.”

Liam chuckled. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. I actually did have a reason for calling though, so as much as I hate to say it, can you put me on speaker?”

“Yup.”

Liam tapped at his screen, putting Sophia on speakerphone. “Say hello, boys.”

“Hey, Soph,” Louis, Harry and Niall said.

“What can we do for you today?” Louis asked.

“Well, I’m actually calling in that favor you owe me for saving your assess on national television.”

“Already?” Harry wondered with a laugh.

“Of course,” Sophia told them. “You know New York; the city never sleeps.”

“Very good point.”

“I know. All right, you ready for the details?”

Louis looked over to Liam and Niall: his best friends and the brothers he never had. Then he focused his attention on Harry, his boyfriend and the person he got to love for the rest of eternity.

They were a team, and with every passing day, their bond and commitment to saving people only grew stronger.

It was a life that Louis didn’t expect to have, but it’s one that he wouldn’t trade for anything.

“Of course we are,” Louis said. “All right, Soph. What’cha got for us?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! It seems unreal to be typing this, since I've been working on it for so long!  
> When I started writing it, I never thought it would get this long, but I'm so happy with how it turned out. As far as I can tell, the Four Horsemen idea is very original, as I've never read one before and when I searched AO3 for one, nothing showed up.  
> Thank you so much for reading and be sure to let me know what you thought of the story! I hope you enjoyed it! <3
> 
>  
> 
> **Don't forget to read all about[Ficathon](http://ficathon2016.tumblr.com/about) and to donate to any of the boys' [charities](http://ficathon2016.tumblr.com/donate)!**


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